UKRAINE AND RUSSIA BLAME ONE ANOTHER OF RUMORED STRIKE ON PRISON

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Adeniyi Onaara

The claimed attack on a prison in separatist-held eastern Ukraine, which Russia claims resulted in the deaths of at least 40 prisoners, sparked a dispute between Russian and Ukrainian authorities on Friday.

The location of the brief video clips that were broadcast on Russian networks and by social media outlets in Donetsk showing substantial building damage and many bodies could not be reliably verified.

Many of the Ukrainian soldiers who gave themselves up at the Azovstal factory in Mariupol a few months ago were housed in the Olenivka prison near Donetsk.

The Russian military ministry claimed that “the Kyiv administration intentionally carried out a murderous provocation” in a statement.

“The pre-trial detention center in the area of the settlement of Yelenovka (Olenivka), which contains Ukrainian military prisoners of war, including militants of the Azov formation, was hit by a missile attack from the American HIMARS multiple launch rocket system.”

The ministry claimed that “40 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed and 75 were wounded. In addition, eight employees of the isolation ward received injuries of varying severity.”

The Russian defense ministry was reiterating claims made earlier by authorities in the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, a separatist-held area of eastern Ukraine.

“It was a direct hit on the prisoner barracks. The result as of now: 40 dead, 130 wounded. They are still clearing the rubble. The numbers may increase,” the deputy information minister of the DPR, Daniil Beznosov, said on his Telegram channel.

“This flagrant provocation was perpetrated to terrify Ukrainian personnel and prevent them from being taken prisoner,” the Russian military ministry stated.

A correctional facility in the hamlet of Olenivka, Donetsk oblast, where Ukrainian detainees were also being detained, was allegedly targeted by artillery firing, according to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The General Staff claimed that “Russian occupants pursued their criminal intentions” by accusing Ukraine of committing “war crimes” and covering up prisoner mistreatment and executions.

“The Armed Forces of Ukraine’s purported shelling of civilian infrastructure and the populace are plain lies and provocations, for which Russia bears responsibility,” the statement reads.

The General Staff statement added: “According to the commander of the Missile Forces and Artillery of the Land Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not launch missile and artillery strikes in the area of Olenivka settlement.”

“Missile troops and artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, thanks to the high-precision weapons received from partner countries, deliver extremely accurate strikes only on Russian military objects.”

The General Staff said that the armed forces “have never conducted and are not conducting shelling of civilian infrastructure, especially places where combat fellows are likely to be kept as POWs.”

“Russia has committed another petrifying war crime by shelling a correctional facility in the occupied Olenivka where it held Ukrainian POWs.

I call on all partners to strongly condemn this brutal violation of international humanitarian law and recognize Russia a terrorist state,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.

A group that works on behalf of Ukrainian soldiers held as prisoners of war posted Friday that “it is with deep sadness that we are forced to confirm the information about the attack on the penal colony in Olenivka, where the ‘Azov’ regiment soldiers are being held as POW.”

The group, known as the Angels of Azov, said on Telegram: “We are finding out the names of the dead and injured through our own channels. The International Committee of the Red Cross also went to the place.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross, whose representatives had previously visited the prisoners, has not commented.