More than 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war have been killed in an attack that President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned on Friday as a “terrorist attack organized by Russian inhuman monsters”.
“This is another confirmation that Russia is a terrorist state,” wrote the president, who confirmed that “more than 50 captured Ukrainian defenders were cynically killed” in Olenivka.
The targeted prison, in an area controlled by the Moscow-backed Donetsk People’s Republic, had housed nearly 200 soldiers captured in Mariupol, the scene of many of the war’s worst atrocities.
Images on Friday showed the smoking remains of a burned-out cavernous building, with charred bodies lying on metal beds and military stretchers.
“Russia has committed another appalling war crime by bombing a prison in occupied Olenivka where Ukrainian prisoners of war were held,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.
“I call on all partners to strongly condemn this brutal violation of international humanitarian law and recognize Russia as a terrorist state.”
An adviser to Zelensky denounced the bombing as “a deliberate, cynical and calculated mass killing of Ukrainian prisoners.”
The prison, in an area controlled by the Moscow-backed Donetsk People’s Republic, had housed troops captured in Mariupol, scene of many of the war’s worst atrocities. Photo AP
The separatists who control the group confirmed that at least 53 people were killed and at least 75 were injured.
However, he blamed Kyiv, as did Russia, whose defense ministry called it a “blatant provocation” designed to prevent soldiers from surrendering and expose Ukraine’s own military crimes.
Russian state media also claimed that there had been rocket fragments from the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) that the US gave to Ukraine.
“Ukraine’s political leadership decided to use US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems to carry out a strike here to hide the crimes that Ukrainian captives began to talk about,” said the spokesman separatists, Eduard Basturin, in the local media.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak ripped those claims as “a classic, cynical and elaborate false flag operation” by the Kremlin.
“The purpose: to discredit in front of our partners and disrupt the supply of weapons,” he said of the “deliberate, cynical and calculated mass killing of Ukrainian prisoners.”
Ukraine’s military leaders shared a similar message in a joint statement later Friday.
“The committed explosion is a cynical terrorist act by the Russian Federation, a military provocation and a classic false flag operation, the purpose of which is to cover up war crimes, discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine, disrupt the supply of Western weapons and increase social tension in Ukrainian society,” they said.
Ukrainian officials alleged that the dreaded Russian mercenary Wagner Group carried out the assault.
On the same day, UK intelligence noted how the private military company had been unusually active at the front, acting as regular troops instead of their usual work on special missions.
“This is a significant change from the group’s previous employment since 2015,” noted the UK report, which confirmed Wagner’s close ties to the Kremlin and also appeared to show that Russia was suffering from a “shortage of combat infantry” in their invasion.
With post cables