Dozens of Ukraine POWs die in missile hit, Moscow and Kyiv blame each other

Odesa/Kyiv: Dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war appeared to have been killed when a prison building was destroyed in a missile strike, with Moscow and Kyiv accusing each other on Friday of carrying out the attack. Russia's defence 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. A spokesman for the separatists put the death toll at 53 and accused Kyiv of targeting the prison with US-made Himars rockets. The ministry also said Himars rockets were to blame, Russian news agencies reported. Ukraine's armed forces denied carrying out the strike, saying Russian artillery had targeted the prison to hide the mistreatment of those held there. Foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said Russia had committed a war crime and called for international condemnation.
Reuters TV showed the remains of a cavernous burned-out building filled with metal beds, some with charred bodies lying on them while other bodies were lined up on military stretchers or on the ground outside. Shell fragments had been laid out on a blue metal bench. It was not immediately possible to detect any identifying markings and it was not clear where the fragments had been collected. The Russian defence ministry said that the prison housed Ukrainian POWs and that eight prison staff were also wounded. Russian-backed separatist leader Denis Pushilin was quoted as saying there were no foreigners among the 193 detainees.
Ukraine's military intelligence said Thursday's prison strike was a "deliberate act of terrorism". The domestic security agency said it had intercepted phone calls which point to Russia being responsible. Ukraine's armed forces general staff said the attack was an attempt to shift blame. "In this way, the Russian occupiers pursued their criminal goals - to accuse Ukraine of committing 'war crimes', as well as to hide the torture of prisoners and executions," it said. Russia has denied involvement in war crimes and accused Kyiv of staging them and said it is investigating Ukrainian war crimes. reuters