Rocket attack on Donetsk prison: 40 Ukrainian prisoners of war killed

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Moscow blames Kyiv for the attack.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said today that Ukraine struck a prison in separatist-held territory in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region with US-supplied HIMARS rocket systems, killing 40 Ukrainian prisoners of war and 75 to be injured. The Ukrainian military denied carrying out the prison attack and blamed Russian forces.

“A missile strike by a US-made multiple launch rocket system (HIMARS) was carried out at a pre-trial detention center in the Olenivka settlement area, where Ukrainian military prisoners of war, including fighters of the Azov battalion, are being held,” the Defense Ministry said in its daily press briefing.

The Russian Defense Ministry said eight prison staff members were also injured.

“This scandalous provocation is intended to frighten Ukrainian soldiers and prevent them from surrendering,” he said.

The leader of the Russian-backed separatists, Denis Pushilin, said, according to the Interfax news agency, that there were 193 people in the prison in Olenivka on the front line and that there were no foreigners among the prisoners. The Russian military did not say how many people are being held in that prison.

Pushilin told the Russian network Russia 24 that Ukrainian authorities “gave the order to exterminate those (among the prisoners) who were eyewitnesses” to executions he said were carried out by Ukrainian forces.

He spoke of a death toll of 47, while the autonomous region’s defense forces put the death toll at 53.

Russian public television broadcast images showing what it claimed were charred barracks without showing any casualties.

When Russia took control of Mariupol after a months-long siege of the Azovstal steelworks, many Ukrainian fighters, including some from the Azov battalion, were taken prisoner in Olenivka after surrendering.

Russian and separatist authorities have previously said they are preparing a war crimes trial against Ukrainian soldiers who fought in Mariupol.

Russia is accused of indiscriminately bombing the city, killing thousands, if not tens of thousands, of civilians. Moscow blames the destruction on Ukrainian forces.

For its part, the Ukrainian military denied carrying out the prison attack and blamed Russian forces.

“The armed forces of the Russian Federation carried out a targeted artillery shelling of a prison in Olenivka settlement, Donetsk administrative region, where Ukrainian prisoners were also held,” the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said in a statement.

“In this way the Russian occupation force pursued its criminal goals — to accuse Ukraine of committing ‘war crimes’, as well as to cover up torture of prisoners and executions…” he said.

RES-EMP

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