Ukraine war: Russia says it has invited UN, Red Cross experts to probe jail deaths

Russia invited UN and Red Cross experts to probe the deaths ‘in the interests of conducting an objective investigation,’ the defence ministry said

Ukraine’s armed forces denied responsibility, saying Russian artillery had targeted the prison to hide mistreatment there

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Yuliana, girlfriend of a defender of the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol, attends a rally demanding to recognise Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism after killing Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) in a prison in Olenivka, outside of Donetsk, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 30, 2022. Photo: Reuters

Published: 1:48pm, 31 Jul 2022Updated: 2:47pm, 31 Jul 2022

Russia on Sunday invited United Nations and Red Cross experts to probe the deaths of dozens of Ukrainian prisoners held by Moscow-backed separatists.

Ukraine and Russia have traded accusations over a missile strike or explosion early on Friday that appeared to have killed dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war in the front-line town of Olenivka in eastern Donetsk.

Russia invited experts from the UN and Red Cross to probe the deaths “in the interests of conducting an objective investigation,” the defence ministry said on Sunday.

The ministry had published a list of 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war killed and 73 wounded in what it said was a Ukrainian military strike with a US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).

Satellite photo of the Olenivka detection centre, in Eastern Donetsk province, after an attack on the prison reportedly killed Ukrainian soldiers captured in May after the fall of Mariupol. Russia has invited UN and Red Cross experts to probe the deaths. Photo: Maxar Technologies via AP

Ukraine’s armed forces denied responsibility, saying Russian artillery had targeted the prison to hide mistreatment there. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Friday Russia had committed a war crime and called for international condemnation.

Reuters journalists confirmed some of the deaths at the prison, but could not immediately verify the differing versions of events.