The BBC Russian service and Mediazona have identified the names of 92 people killed in the attack on Makeyevka on New Year's Eve

Journalists from the BBC Russian Service and Mediazona managed to establish the names of 92 Russian servicemen who died on New Year's Eve as a result of a Ukrainian missile attack on a vocational school building in Makeevka in the annexed DPR. For this publication, open sources were used, such as messages from relatives of the victims in social networks, information about the funeral, and others.

The whereabouts of another 16 people who were in the vocational school building in Makiivka at the time of the strike have not yet been established.

According to the Ministry of Defense, a minute after the onset of the New Year, the Armed Forces of Ukraine launched a missile attack on the building of a vocational school in Ukrainian Makiivka, which is now controlled by the self-proclaimed DPR. Presumably, the Russian mobilized were placed in the building. According to the Ukrainian military, about 400 servicemen were killed as a result of the strike.

Later, reports of the strike were confirmed by Russian pro-government military correspondents and representatives of the authorities of the self-proclaimed DPR. Both those and others called for accountability for those who decided to place military personnel in an unfortified building, which could come under fire from Ukraine.

A few days later, the fact that Makiivka was hit was also recognized by the Russian Ministry of Defense. They reported the death of 89 people, without specifying the number of injured. The dead soldiers were blamed for the incident.

“Obviously, the main reason for what happened was the inclusion and massive use, contrary to the ban, by personnel of mobile phones in the reach of enemy weapons. This factor allowed the enemy to locate and determine the coordinates of the location of military personnel for launching a missile strike, ”the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

On January 10, the Russian authorities announced that they would not publish the names of those killed in Makiivka. This was announced by the military commissar of the Samara region Alexei Vdovin.

“Firstly, this is personal data, and secondly, this is work for foreign intelligence services to carry out provocative measures against the relatives of the victims, which is strictly prohibited,” he explained.

At the same time, a petition demanding the publication of a list of names of the dead has already gained almost 55,000 signatures.

Source: BBC Russian Service

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