Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of bombing a prison in a separatist region of eastern Ukraine, an attack that reportedly killed dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war captured after the fall of Mariupol, the city where troops faced a Russian for months. hoop
Both sides said the assault was premeditated to cover up the atrocities.
Russia claimed that the Ukrainian military used US-supplied rocket launchers to attack Olenivka prison, a settlement controlled by the Moscow-backed Donetsk People’s Republic.
In this photo taken from a video, a view of a destroyed barracks at a prison in Olenivka, in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces, in eastern Ukraine, Friday, July 29, 2022. Russia and Ukraine accused each other on Friday of bombing a prison in a separatist region of eastern Ukraine, an attack that reportedly killed dozens of Ukrainian military prisoners who were captured after the fall of a port city of Mariupol in the south of May. (AP Photo) (AP)
Separatist authorities and Russian officials said the attack killed 53 Ukrainian prisoners of war and wounded 75 others.
Moscow opened an investigation into the attack, sending a team from the Investigative Committee of Russia, the country’s main criminal investigation agency, to the site.
State agency RIA Novosti reported that rocket fragments from the US-supplied high-mobility precision artillery rocket system were found at the site.
The Ukrainian military denied launching any rocket or artillery attack on Olenivka, and accused the Russians of bombing the prison to cover up the alleged torture and execution of Ukrainians there.
An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the bombing as “a deliberate, cynical and calculated mass killing of Ukrainian prisoners.”
Neither claim could be independently verified.
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Video shot by The Associated Press showed charred and twisted bed frames in the wrecked barracks, as well as burned bodies and sheet metal hanging from the destroyed ceiling.
The images also included bodies lined up on the ground next to a barbed wire fence and a number of what were said to be metal rocket fragments on a wooden bench.
Denis Pushilin, the leader of the unrecognized Donetsk republic, said the prison held 193 inmates. He did not specify how many were Ukrainian prisoners of war.
The deputy commander of Donetsk separatist forces, Eduard Basurin, suggested that Ukraine decided to attack the prison to prevent the captives from revealing key military information.
Ukraine “knew exactly where they were being held and in what place,” he said.
“After the Ukrainian prisoners of war started talking about the crimes they committed and the orders they received from Kyiv, the political leadership of Ukraine made a decision: go on strike here.”
In this photo taken from a video, a view of the destroyed barracks at a prison in Olenivka, in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces, in eastern Ukraine, Friday, July 29, 2022. Russia and Ukraine on Friday accused each other of bombing a prison in a separatist region of eastern Ukraine, an attack that reportedly killed dozens of Ukrainian military prisoners who were captured after the fall of a southern port city Mariupol in May. (AP Photo) (AP)
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak called for a “strict investigation” into the attack and urged the United Nations and other international organizations to condemn it.
He said the Russians had moved some Ukrainian prisoners to the barracks just days before the strike, suggesting it was planned.
“The purpose: to discredit Ukraine to our partners and disrupt arms supplies,” he tweeted.
A soldier stands guard next to a prison wall in Olenivka, an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces, in eastern Ukraine, Friday, July 29, 2022. Russia and Ukraine accused each other of on Friday of having bombed a prison in a separatist region. of eastern Ukraine, an attack that reportedly killed dozens of Ukrainian military prisoners who were captured after the fall of the southern port city of Mariupol in May. (AP Photo) (AP)
Ukrainian officials alleged that Russia’s Wagner Group, mercenaries that Russia has used in other armed conflicts and reportedly elsewhere in Ukraine, carried out the assault.
Ukraine’s security agencies issued a statement citing evidence that Russia was responsible, including the transfer of prisoners, analysis of injuries and the blast wave, intercepted telephone conversations and the absence of shelling in the place
“All this leaves no doubt: the explosion in Olenivka was a Russian terrorist act and a serious violation of international agreements,” the statement said.
In this photo taken from a video, a view of a destroyed barracks at a prison in Olenivka, in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces, in eastern Ukraine, Friday, July 29, 2022. Russia and Ukraine accused each other on Friday of bombing a prison in a separatist region of eastern Ukraine, an attack that reportedly killed dozens of Ukrainian military prisoners who were captured after the fall of a port city of Mariupol in the south of May. (AP Photo) (AP)
A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, called the strike a “bloody provocation” aimed at dissuading Ukrainian soldiers from surrendering.
It also claimed that US-supplied HIMARS rockets were used and said eight guardsmen were among the wounded.
Ukrainian forces are fighting to keep the territory that remains under their control in Donetsk. Together with neighboring Luhansk province, they form Ukraine’s predominantly Russian-speaking industrial Donbass region.
In this photo provided by the Presidential Press Office of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center, surrounded by ambassadors from different countries and UN officials, visits a Chornomork port during the loading of grain in a Turkish ship, background, near Odesa, Ukraine, Friday, July 29, 2022. (Presidential Press Office of Ukraine via AP) (AP)
For several months now, Moscow has focused on trying to seize parts of the Donbas that the separatists do not yet hold.
Keeping prisoners of war in an area with active fighting appeared to defy the Geneva Convention, which requires that prisoners be evacuated as soon as possible after capture to camps away from combat zones.
Ukrainian prisoners of war in Donetsk prison included troops captured during the fall of Mariupol. They spent months locked up with civilians in a giant steel factory in the southern port city. Their resistance during a relentless Russian bombardment became a symbol of Ukrainian defiance against Russian aggression.
More than 2,400 soldiers from the Azov Regiment of the Ukrainian National Guard and other military units abandoned the fight and surrendered under orders from the Ukrainian army in May.
Dozens of Ukrainian soldiers have been transferred to prisons in Russian-controlled areas. Some have returned to Ukraine as part of prisoner exchanges with Russia, but the families of other POWs have no idea if their loved ones are still alive or will ever return home.