Russia has invited the United Nations and the Red Cross to investigate the deaths of dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
The prisoners were being held by Moscow-backed separatists at a prison in the eastern Donetsk city of Olenivka when it was hit by rockets on Friday.
Russia’s defense ministry said 50 prisoners were killed and another 73 wounded, adding that it wanted to act “in the interest of conducting an objective investigation” into the attack.
It claims that Ukrainian soldiers had used a US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) to target the prison.
Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said “all political, criminal and moral responsibility” rests with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, “his criminal regime and Washington that supports them.”
But Ukraine said Russian artillery had been behind the attack, using it to cover up the abuse of prisoners.
Zelenskyy said: “It was a deliberate Russian war crime, a deliberate mass killing of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
“There should be clear legal recognition of Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.”
Subscribe to Ukraine War Diaries on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Spreaker
UN and Red Cross ready to go to site of prison attack
The dead reportedly included Ukrainian soldiers captured in May after the fall of Mariupol, a southern port city that resisted a months-long Russian siege.
The UN had previously said it was willing to send experts to investigate the prison attack if both sides agreed.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had requested access to the prison to “determine the health and condition of all persons present at the site at the time of the attack.”
He added: “Our priority right now is to ensure that the injured receive life-saving treatment and that the bodies of those who lost their lives are treated in a dignified manner.”
Nocturnal attacks
Meanwhile, Russia launched night attacks against several Ukrainian cities.
Rockets hit a school in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, with another attack an hour later.
Mayor Ihor Terekhov said there were no reports of injuries.
One person was killed and six were wounded in a shelling that hit a residential part of Mykolaiv in the south, the region’s administration said.
A bus station in Sloviansk was also hit, according to the city’s mayor, Vadim Lyakh.
Read more: Zelenskyy orders mandatory evacuation of Donetsk region as fighting intensifies. Russian forces take control of key power plant and push more troops south. Former TV journalist found guilty of ‘discrediting’ Russia’s armed forces
Thanks to those who took in Ukrainian refugees
Meanwhile, people in the UK who have hosted more than 100,000 Ukrainians during the conflict will receive a letter of thanks from the Ukrainian and British governments.
The letters will come from Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK, Vadym Prystaiko, and Refugees Minister Lord Harrington, praising the homes for contributing to the UK’s “biggest offer of help to people fleeing the war since 1945”.
Some 104,000 people have arrived in Britain since Ukraine’s visa schemes were launched in March: 31,300 under the family scheme and 72,700 under the Homes For Ukraine sponsorship scheme.
There have been almost 200,000 applications, meaning just over half of those who have applied have made it to the UK.
The letter is expected to read: “You have saved lives, given hope and offered sanctuary to people in desperate need.
“This represents the UK’s biggest offer of help to people fleeing war since 1945.”