RUSSIAN defence chiefs said scores of their troops were killed in a missile strike in Ukraine because they gave their positions away by using their phones.
The hapless reserves were slaughtered when their barracks was blitzed by missiles in occupied eastern Donbas.
Kremlin chiefs admitted at least 89 soldiers were killed in the strike, which happened just after midnight on New Year’s Day.
However, the real toll is likely to be far higher.
Ukraine said 400 died with another 300 wounded while pro-war Russian pundits said hundreds were killed and injured in the strike.
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Russia’s Defence Ministry said the cause of the strike was “obvious” and blamed the “turning on and massive use of mobile phones” within range of Ukraine’s artillery.
It said: “This allowed the enemy to locate the personnel for launching the missile strike.”
Russia has set up a commission to investigate.
Lt Gen Sergei Sevryukov said those found responsible would be brought to justice.
He said “all the necessary measures are being adopted to prevent this kind of tragic incident in the future”.
Pro-Putin warmonger Igor Strelkov said the troops were housed next to an ammo dump, which exploded after the strike.
He blasted idiot generals “incapable of learning”.
Footage and satellite pics showed a three-storey temporary barracks reduced to smouldering rubble.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence said: “There is a realistic possibility that ammunition was being stored near to troop accommodation, which detonated during the strike.”
It makes the strike in Makiivka the worst single loss of life that Moscow has acknowledged since Vladimir Putin’s troops invaded Ukraine last February.
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