Dozens of dead: The Russian Defense Ministry announced the details of the strike in Makeyevka

On New Year's Eve, the point of temporary deployment of one of the units of the Russian armed forces in Makeevka was hit by six rockets of the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system.  

"As a result of four rockets with a high-explosive warhead hitting  a temporary deployment point, 63 Russian servicemen were killed", - the ministry said.

Earlier, TASS, citing a source, stated that the reason for the strike on the vocational school building, where the servicemen were stationed, was the high cellular activity of the servicemen themselves.

 "Previously, the reason for hitting HIMARS was the active use of mobile phones by the arriving servicemen.

The enemy, with the help of the ECHELON intelligence complex, revealed the activity of cellular communications and the location of subscribers", - the source told TASS. From other sources, it follows that the missile strike was carried out exactly at midnight on January 1.

The two-storey vocational school building where the soldiers were stationed was completely destroyed.