ODESA (Dispatches) - Dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war appeared to have been killed when a prison building was destroyed in a missile strike on Friday, with Moscow and Kyiv accusing each other of carrying out the attack.
The deaths, some of which were confirmed by media journalists at the damaged prison where the men were held, overshadowed UN-backed efforts to restart shipping grain from Ukraine and ease a looming global hunger crisis.
Russia’s defense ministry said 40 prisoners were killed and 75 wounded in the attack on the prison, in the frontline town of Olenivka, in a part of Donetsk province held by separatists.
On Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the Ukrainian military has attacked a pre-trial detention center near Olenevka in the Donbass region with HIMARS rocket systems and killed 40 Ukrainian prisoners of war.
“Over 40 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed and 75 wounded. In addition, eight employees of the pre-trial detention center received injuries of different severity,” the ministry told reporters, RIA Novosti reported.
The ministry called the Ukrainian attack a “flagrant provocation” aimed at intimidating Ukrainian soldiers who think about surrendering.
Olenevka’s detention facilities house a POW camp, where Ukrainian troops captured in Mariupol, including the nationalist Azov battalion, have been held.
Last month, the United States committed 12 and delivered eight HIMARS systems to Ukraine.
Pentagon Policy Chief Colin Kahl said on June 1 that the United States obtained the promise of the Ukrainian authorities, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, not to use HIMARS against Russian territory. According to Russia’s defense ministry, at least two HIMARS systems have been destroyed to date.
The Russian defense ministry said that the prison housed Ukrainian prisoners of war and that eight prison staff were also wounded. Russian-backed separatist leader Denis Pushilin was quoted saying there were no foreigners among the 193 detainees.