Mass death of Russian soldiers under shelling in Makiivka: how is this explained in Russia?

BBC

5 min

January 3, 2023

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The death toll of Russian servicemen under the rubble of a vocational school building in Makeevka may be higher than official figures. The building, in which, presumably, there were about 600 Russian soldiers, was subjected to a powerful missile attack on New Year's Eve. The Russian Defense Ministry on Monday acknowledged the death of 63 people. Eyewitnesses believe that more people died.

"The rubble is still being cleared and, unfortunately, the number of victims of this tragedy may be higher," said Semyon Pegov, the author of the pro-war telegram channel WarGonzo, from Donetsk. According to him, among those who fell under the blow of the Ukrainian "Haymars" are both mobilized and regular military personnel, including from the National Guard, from SOBR.

"According to my personal information, the blow was struck not only at this location, but also at one more place in Makeevka," Pegov reports.

Samara governor Dmitry Azarov confirmed that during the shelling of a vocational school in Makeevka, mobilized from the Samara region were killed. The authorities promised to provide information about the wounded on Tuesday, this data is not publicly available. In the meantime, events have already begun in the region in memory of the fallen servicemen, and an urgent collection of things for the mobilized who survived during the strike was announced in a group of Samara mobilized.

Photo credit: Getty Images

According to the VChK-OGPU telegram channel close to the Russian law enforcement agencies, 130 sleeping bags are being collected for the survivors of the missile attack in Makeevka. The rest who were in the building, according to the telegram channel, were wounded and killed.

“I only know that many were torn to pieces to such an extent that there was practically nothing left of the bodies. I know that they literally took their brains off their shoes,” says the wife of one of the mobilized. The wife of another mobilized said that the wounded were taken to a hospital in the Rostov region. “My husband just wrote a few words to me that he is alive and well. More guys called, they walk naked there. In flip flops, who survived. There is nothing: no things, no medicines, no money, no food ... Horror is simple,” she said she is.

Who's guilty?

The opinions of Russian "military correspondents" and bloggers about who is responsible for what happened were divided. Some blame the mobilized themselves for everything - allegedly they actively used phones with Russian SIM cards on New Year's Eve and thereby betrayed their location. Others believe that the commanders are guilty of placing the military in a heap, and even next to the ammunition depot. Still others suspect local informants associated with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and do not even rule out betrayal.

The VChK-OGPU source is skeptical about reports of the use of cellular communications as the reason for the precise strike on the PTU in Makeevka.

"Makiivka is a small town, near Donetsk, and accordingly, everyone can see who and what has appeared at their disposal. Especially when there are a lot of fighters and equipment. Even there, not everyone is pro-Russian. There are gunners and spotters. But, despite this, mobilized people are periodically stationed there. Moreover, HIMARS have already flown to those parts. Last summer, the headquarters of a tank battalion in Gorlovka was smashed into dust with the same arrival. This fact was not covered, few people know about it," he says.

According to the source, at that time the recruits remained alive due to chance, and it is unlikely that the Armed Forces of Ukraine were guided by cellular signals.

In addition, many mobilized people say that their phones are taken away immediately upon arrival at the unit. Yes, and using Russian SIM cards in roaming on the territory of Ukraine is very expensive.

Andrey Medvedev, vice speaker of the Moscow City Duma, employee of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, in his telegram channel:

"It was predictable. That they would try to blame the tragedy in Makiivka on the fighters themselves. Say, they turned on the phones and they were immediately identified by the accumulation of SIM cards. Well, of course. It's not the commander who gave the order to place the personnel in the vocational school building "Not the one who did not take care of the means of disguise in advance. Not the one who did not begin to seat the fighters in the basements. But the simple fighter with the phone, it turns out, is to blame for the trouble. Himself, so to speak, let himself under fire. And let him down respected people with his misconduct, he prevented them from eating salads on a holiday.

This is an illustration of the expression "the cities are taken by soldiers, but the war is won by the generals."

Fighting cat Murz is a soldier of one of the units of the self-proclaimed DPR, the author of the telegram channel "They write to us from Ioannina":

"Someone quite specific, some Russian military, considered it acceptable in the 11th month of the war, after several months of missile attacks on artillery depots and dispositions, which had already entailed many casualties and shell hunger, to drive the mobilized into a heap, impose them ammunition, furnish equipment, make the perfect target.

Before the start of the second wave of mobilization, the man created all the conditions for it to be thwarted by widespread riots of the mobilized."

Russian blogger Igor Dimitriev, author of the Russian Orientalist telegram channel:

“Everyone is already writing about how to resist strikes - dispersal. Somewhere it works, somewhere it doesn’t, they continue to bring everyone into one hangar. Why? Firstly, logistics. And the second reason is that dispersal of forces, dispersal leads to decentralization - and decentralization contradicts the most important principle of the structure of the Russian army and state.

And from this point of view, it is better to lose at least half of the army, to ban telephones, to hide the facts, but to maintain control over it.

IanMatveev, Twitter user:

“In total, there are from 150,000 to 200,000 mobilized at the front now. I think at least half (75,000-100,000) of them are in the rear, and a lot of them are just in Donetsk and its environs, simply because the logistics are easier there. And just imagine, that you must place 20,000 people around the city. That is, you will take and shove them into 2,000 basements throughout the city. Mobilized. Without discipline, experience and desire to fight. What will happen? 20,000 soldiers will disappear!

Do you understand what I'm getting at? The one who placed the mobilized in one place was probably not too smart. If I were smart, I would get out of the war. But he did it out of desperation. Otherwise it would be impossible to control them. Yes, and places (those same basements), I think, not so much.

Do not forget that the mobilized often need to be literally guarded. They run away a little. Many experts and generals say that the new manpower (mobilized) is the advantage of the Russian army. So in order to realize this advantage, it just needs to be concentrated.

It is clear that they should be concentrated not in one school or vocational school, but at the front. But you still have to take them there - all these battalions. Without losing them in the cellars, without scattering them, do not understand where without discipline. Hence such decisions as the location of the battalion in one place.

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