Anticipating Moscow's Attack After 89 Soldiers Killed in Donetsk, President Zelensky: We Have to Thwart the Russian Scenario

President Volodymyr Zelensky. (Source: President.gov.ua)

JAKARTA - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky anticipated a wave of Russian attacks, after dozens of Moscow soldiers died in Donetsk, although he made no mention of the incident in a videotape of his speech Tuesday.

The number of Russian soldiers who died in the New Year's Eve attack in Donetsk has risen to 89, after previously being announced as many as 63.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who rarely comments on specific Ukrainian military strikes, made no mention of the strikes in a video speech on Tuesday, in which he said Russia would launch a major offensive to improve its position in the war.

"We have no doubt that the current rulers of Russia will throw away everything they have, everyone they can muster to try to turn the tide of the war and at least delay their defeat," President Zelensky said in a video address.

"We must thwart this Russian scenario. We are preparing for this. The terrorists must be defeated. Any new offensive attempts by them must fail," he continued.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military said it had launched an attack that resulted in the loss of Russian equipment and possible personnel near Makiivka. But it does not provide further details.

Earlier, Russia's Defense Ministry on Wednesday blamed its soldiers' illegal use of mobile phones for a deadly Ukrainian missile attack that killed 89 servicemen on New Year's Eve, significantly increasing the reported death toll.

The attack on a school converted into a military base in Makiivka, Donetsk has sparked outrage among Russian nationalists and some lawmakers, questioning the military strategy used there.

Much of the anger on social media has been directed at military commanders rather than Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has yet to comment publicly about the strike dealing yet another blow, after the retreat of Russian troops on the battlefield in recent months.

The Russian Defense Ministry said four Ukrainian missiles hit a Russian makeshift barracks at a vocational college in Makiivka, a twin city of the Russian-occupied regional capital of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

Although an official investigation has been launched, the main reason for the attack is clearly the soldier's illegal use of mobile phones, the Ministry of Defense said.

"This factor allows the enemy to track and determine the coordinates of the location of troops for missile strikes," he said in a statement issued just after 1 a.m. in Moscow on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Russian nationalist bloggers and some pro-Russian officials in the region put the death toll in Makiivka in the hundreds, although some said that estimate was an exaggeration.