The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Sunday that it had officially invited independent experts from the UN and the Red Cross to investigate the shelling of a detention center in Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). The Friday bombing killed 50 prisoners, with dozens more wounded.
“In the interest of conducting an objective investigation of the strike on the detention center in Yelenovka, which led to the deaths of many Ukrainian prisoners of war, the Russian Federation has officially invited experts from the UN and the International Red Cross Committee,” the ministry said.
The facility in Yelenovka, south of Donetsk, housed hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners – mainly members of the “Azov” neo-Nazi militia who surrendered in Mariupol in May.
According to the Russian military’s earlier statement, the strike was conducted using US-made HIMARS multiple rocket launchers.
“All political, criminal and moral responsibility for the bloodbath against Ukrainians is borne personally by Zelensky, his criminal regime and Washington, which supports them,” Moscow said.
The Ukrainian military released a statement on Friday, accusing Russian troops of shelling the town. Moscow destroyed the prison in order to pin the blame on Kiev, as well as to “hide the torture of prisoners and executions,” the statement alleged.
However, the DPR military suggested it was the Ukrainian authorities who had the reason to “deliberately” target the facility. The republic’s head, Denis Pushilin, said “Azov” members had been providing testimonies about possible war crimes by their commanders. The Kiev authorities also knew exactly where the “Azov” prisoners were being held, DPR militia spokesman Eduard Basurin told reporters.
Meanwhile, unlike the government in Kiev, Ukraine’s backers in Washington did not rush to blame the bombing on Moscow.
“We just don’t have enough information to speak intelligently about these very early reports,” John Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council, told reporters.
Credit: RT News