Ukraine accused Russia on Friday of being behind an attack on a prison holding Ukrainian prisoners of war in the Russian separatist-controlled Donbass region (east).
“Russia has committed another heinous war crime by bombing a prison in the occupied Olenivka region where Ukrainian prisoners of war are held,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter.
Claiming that at least 40 were killed in the attack, Russia and the separatists blamed the Ukrainian army behind the attack.
“The Ukrainian armed forces, in full adherence to the principles and norms of international humanitarian law, have never and never bombed civilian infrastructure, especially where there is a possibility of prisoners of war,” said the Ukrainian General Staff. in his statement..
“The Ukrainian armed forces did not carry out any missile or artillery strikes in the Olenivka prison area,” the statement said.
The Ukrainian General Staff also blamed the Russian army for the bombing of the Olenivka prison, where Ukrainian prisoners of war were held.
“In this way, the Russian occupiers pursue their criminal aims: accusing Ukraine of committing war crimes and covering up the torture of prisoners and their executions there,” the Ukrainian General Staff said.
Shots from a Himars artillery system delivered by the United States to Ukraine had hit the prison overnight, killing at least 40 people, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said the prison contained, among others, members of the Azov battalion, which is notorious for defending the city of Mariupol against advancing Russian troops, and which Moscow says is a neo-Nazi formation.
Russia claimed that the “bloody provocation of the Kyiv regime” was aimed at preventing Ukrainian troops from laying down their arms and surrendering.
“This heinous provocation was carried out to intimidate the Ukrainian army,” said the Russian Defense Ministry.
source: Noticias
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