Moscow blames Russian soldiers’ cellphone use for deadly Donetsk strike

The fallout from an attack in the occupied city of Makiivka in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, which killed dozens of Russian service members, has led to finger-pointing by Moscow’s officials. The Russian Defense Ministry said the strike was a result of illicit cellphone use among its soldiers, in what some observers see as an attempt to shift culpability from Moscow.

Russia’s Defense Ministry blamed on-site cellphone communication in a Makiivka building for the deadly strike, as it allowed Ukrainian forces to locate the target. “It is already obvious that the main reason, despite the restriction, was turning on and massive use of mobile phones by the personnel within the range area of enemy firepower,” Kremlin officials said in an explanation of the attack posted to Telegram.

The ministry also raised the Russian death toll to 89 in its early Wednesday statement, a rare acknowledgment of a significant loss. Ukraine did not directly confirm its involvement in the attack but claimed that at least 400 Russian soldiers were killed in the strike. The Washington Post could not independently verify the figures.

Since the attack, Russian military leaders have faced scrutiny for squeezing soldiers into high-density barracks in the same buildings used to store ammunition. Igor Girkin, a former Russian paramilitary commander in Ukraine, wrote on Telegram that he “was warned that this could happen again at any moment since this is not the only such extremely dense deployment of personnel and equipment within HIMARS range,” The Post reported. Russia says Ukraine targeted the building with rockets using U.S.-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, though neither Ukrainian nor U.S. officials have confirmed it.

Britain’s Defense Ministry said on Twitter: “There is a realistic possibility that ammunition was being stored near to troop accommodation, which detonated during the strike creating secondary explosions,” the ministry’s intelligence analysts said. “The Russian military has a record of unsafe ammunition storage from well before the current war,” they added.

Military strikes will reach “deeper and deeper” within Russia, Ukraine’s head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, told ABC News. But he refused to say whether Ukraine was behind any of the attacks, until the war is over.

Zelensky warned of an impending Russian offensive without specifying locations and said Moscow was “on the eve of new mobilization processes.” In his nightly address, the president said Russian forces were throwing everything they have left at Ukraine to turn the tide of the war. In a separate Facebook post, Ukraine’s armed forces warned that the town of Bakhmut, in eastern Donetsk, is a top target for Russian forces.

Russian forces targeted an ice hockey arena in a rocket attack in Donetsk, the Ice Hockey Federation of Ukraine said on Telegram. “People played sports there, celebrated and just enjoyed life,” Zelensky said in his nightly speech, referencing the strike. Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, called on Russian athletes to be excluded from global sports competitions - and invited anyone who disagreed with him to visit the arena.

The United States has had direct conversations with Russian officials about Paul Whelan, State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a news briefing Tuesday. He was responding to a question about efforts to free Whelan since the release of WNBA player Brittney Griner. Whelan, who the U.S. government has determined was “wrongfully detained,” has been held in Russia for four years on charges of espionage.

On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will hold a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, Erdogan’s spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, told Turkish news agency NTV. Afterward, Erdogan will speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Kalin said.

Turkey will “continue to maintain this intense diplomacy with both sides” in the Russia-Ukraine war, Kalin said in announcing Erdogan’s plan to speak with Putin and Zelensky. The NATO country has walked a fine line during the war, attempting to maintain its close relationship with Ukraine while still relying on Russian natural gas and imports. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed Putin’s call with Erdogan.

Zelensky had calls with several international leaders on Tuesday, including the prime ministers of the Netherlands, Britain, Norway and Canada. “Every day, I will continue such diplomatic activity - both formal and informal, both public and nonpublic,” he said in his nightly address, thanking the leaders for their commitment to supporting Ukraine.

Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s military chief, spoke on the phone Tuesday with Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. They discussed the tensions in border regions and the intense fighting in Bakhmut, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine wrote on Facebook. Zaluzhny also outlined Ukraine’s defense needs as it continues its fight against Russia in the new year.