Russia blames soldiers’ mobile phone use for deadly missile strike that killed 89 troops

Ukraine’s military says it launched strike that resulted in Russian loss of equipment and possibly personnel near Makiivka

Russia blamed its own soldiers’ “illegal” use of mobile phones for the deaths of 89 troops by Ukrainian missile strikes over the weekend.

In a statement on Wednesday, Russia’s defence ministry said four Ukrainian missiles hit a temporary Russian barrack in a vocational college in Makiivka, the twin city of the Russian-occupied regional capital of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

Russia had earlier said 63 soldiers were killed in the strike over the weekend.