Ukraine war: UN and Red Cross invited to investigate deaths of prisoners of war, Russia says.
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 jail in the town of Olenivka, in eastern Donetsk, when it was hit by rockets early on Friday.
Russia’s defense ministry said 50 prisoners were killed and another 73 were injured, adding that it wanted to act “in the interest of conducting an objective investigation” into the attack.
It claims Ukrainian soldiers had used a US-made high mobility artillery rocket system (HIMARS) to target the prison.
Ministry spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov said “all political, criminal and moral responsibility” rested with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, “his criminal regime and Washington who supports them”.
But Ukraine said Russian artillery had been behind the attack, using it to hide the mistreatment of prisoners.
Mr. Zelenskyy said: “It was a deliberate Russian war crime, a deliberate mass murder of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Source: bbc.com