Kremlin blames soldiers' cell phones, pundits blame Russia military leaders for Ukraine strike that killed 89

The unauthorized use of cellphones exposed the location of Russian troops to the Ukrainian military, prompting the weekend rocket attack that killed scores of Russians, a Kremlin official said Wednesday.

Some Russians dismissed the explanation as an effort by the Kremlin to deflect blame from leadership.

Lt. Gen. Sergey Sevryukov said the death toll had risen to 89 servicemembers – up from 63 – in the Russian-controlled Ukrainian town of Makiivka in eastern Ukraine. He said a commission was investigating the strike but that "it has already become obvious at present that the main cause of the occurrence was activation and large-scale use, contrary to the ban, of personal phones by personnel within the reach of enemy’s destruction means."

Sevryukov said the Russian military is taking measures to ensure a similar incident does not happen again, adding that officials responsible would be punished. The attack was among the most deadly Russia has faced in a war that has dragged on for more than 10 months with no indication it will soon end.

The British defense ministry, in an assessment Wednesday, noted that the extent of the damage indicated a "realistic possibility" that ammunition stored near troop accommodations exploded during the strike, creating secondary blasts.

"The Russian military has a record of unsafe ammunition storage from well before the current war," the assessment says. "This incident highlights how unprofessional practices contribute to Russia’s high casualty rate."

Other developments:

►Unconfirmed Ukrainian reports put the death toll from the the weekend rocket strike much higher. The Strategic Communications Directorate of Ukraine’s armed forces claimed Sunday that about 400 mobilized Russian soldiers were killed in a vocational school building.

►The Russian regiment's deputy commander was among the dead, according to the nation's defense ministry.

►In Samara, in southwestern Russia, locals on Tuesday gathered for a memorial. Unconfirmed reports in Russian-language media said the victims were mobilized reservists from the region.

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Some Russians reject cellphone explanation

Andrei Medvedev, Russian TV host, dismissed the explanation in a message on Telegram, calling it a reflection of the adage that cities are taken by soldiers while wars are won by generals.

"Of course it is not the fault of the commander who gave the order to place the personnel in the building. Not the one who did not take care of the means of disguise in advance," he wrote sarcastically. "It is not the fault of the one who did not begin to settle the fighters in the basements. And a simple fighter with a phone, it turns out, is to blame."

The Russian military blogger Grey Zone wrote on Telegram that while the enemy sometimes can use cellphones to track troops, "in this case, it is 99% a lie and an attempt to shift the blame."

Ukraine planning March offensive, Ukraine official says

Ukraine plans a major offensive for spring, and fighting could be "hottest" in March, Ukraine's military intelligence head said Wednesday.

"This is (when we will see) liberation of territories and dealing the final defeats to the Russian Federation," Kyrylo Budanov told ABC News in an interview in Kyiv. "This will happen throughout Ukraine, from Crimea to the Donbas."

Budanov said the U.S. Bradley Armored Fighting Vehicles will "significantly improve" the Ukraine military's combat ability. The Ukrainian leadership has repeatedly said it will sign no peace deal that involves land concessions. That includes Crimea, which Russia has occupied since 2014.

Budanov thanked Americans for their support and promised that "it will not take too long now, and every taxpayer in the U.S. will be able to see where every cent went. We will change this world together."

Ukrainians could face more power outages

Ukraine’s state grid operator Ukrenergo said that it has established power consumption limits across the nation and that emergency outages will be introduced if the limits are exceeded. Consumption has increased because of colder weather and increased business operations after the winter holidays, the company said in a statement. Energy facilities in the eastern part of the country had come under frequent attack from Russia, causing significant damage, the statement said.

“The damage to generation facilities and power transmission grids is complex and large-scale," the statement said. "Their restoration still requires significant resources and time."

Iranian drone made up of mostly US parts, CNN reports

Parts made by more than a dozen U.S. and Western companies were found inside an Iranian drone downed in Ukraine last fall, CNN reported, citing a Ukrainian intelligence assessment the media outlet said it obtained. Of the 52 components Ukrainians removed from the Iranian Shahed-136 drone, 40 appear to have been manufactured by 13 American companies, the others by companies in Canada, Switzerland, Japan, Taiwan, and China, according to the assessment.

The weapons research group Conflict Armament Research issued multiple reports last year citing the use of Western parts in the drones, and the White House has created a task force aimed at cutting off the supply of Western-made parts to Iran.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ukraine: Russia blames own troops, cell phones for attack