The ICRC had not yet received official authorization this Sunday to access the Olenivka prison where dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed in a bombardment in circumstances yet to be elucidated, according to a press release.
“At this time, we have not received official confirmation that gives us access to visit the place or the prisoners of war who were victims of the attack, and to date our offer of material assistance has not been accepted,” the ICRC stressed in this release. press release published this Sunday around 3 pm
On Saturday night, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had sent an invitation to the ICRC and the UN to go there.
Help evacuate the wounded.
“The Russian Federation, in the interest of an objective investigation into the attack on the detention center in Elenovka (Olenivka in Ukrainian), which resulted in the death of a large number of Ukrainian prisoners of war, has officially invited UN experts and the International Committee of the Red Cross,” the Defense Ministry said.
The ICRC requested access to the site and “to all the places where the wounded and the dead were taken” as soon as it was informed of the shelling blamed on the Russians and the Ukrainians.
The ICRC also offered help to evacuate the wounded, medical equipment. “We are ready to go to Olenivka,” said the ICRC, which has teams in the area because it has been present in Donetsk since 2014 and the start of hostilities between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists.
“Immediate Access”
“It is imperative that the ICRC has immediate access” to the prison and to the victims in order to fulfill its humanitarian mission, he added. The Russian military reported 50 dead and 73 wounded, and pro-Russian separatist authorities in the Donetsk region cited as many as 53 dead.
As for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, he described the bombing that killed “more than 50 people” as a “deliberate Russian war crime.”
Source: BFM TV
