The death toll from the Ukrainian strike on New Year's Eve on a building where Russian soldiers were gathered in Makiivka, eastern Ukraine, has risen to 89 dead, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday evening.

• Read also: Zelensky reiterates his defense needs to Trudeau

• To read also: Russia: mourning and anger after the death of dozens of soldiers in Ukraine

"The number of our dead comrades has reached 89," General Sergei Sevryukov said in a video statement released by the Russian Defense Ministry.

New bodies were discovered in the ruins, he explained.

"A commission is currently investigating the circumstances" of the attack, he added.

"But it is already clear that the main cause (...) is the switching on and massive use by personnel of mobile phones within range of enemy weapons, contrary to the prohibition", explained the general.

In an extremely rare admission, the Russian Ministry of Defense admitted on Monday that 63 soldiers had died in a Ukrainian strike on New Year's Eve on a building where they were gathered in Makiivka, a city under Russian occupation in the Ukrainian region of Donetsk ( east), whose annexation Moscow claims. kyiv evokes a much higher balance sheet.

Rallies took place on Tuesday in Russia to pay tribute to the soldiers killed. Their deaths caused a shock that triggered a wave of criticism against the army.