At least 53 Ukrainian prisoners of war were reportedly killed by artillery blasts on Friday that Russian-backed separatists blamed on Ukrainian forces.
The shelling reportedly hit a penal colony in the eastern Ukrainian town of Olenivka, where more than 900 Ukrainian POWs captured during the battle for Mariupol were being held after they surrendered from the Azovstal steel plant. A spokesman for the Russian-backed separatists in the region claims that U.S.-provided High Mobility Artillery Rocket System rocket launchers were used in the attack, which also reportedly left 130 injured.
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“At night, the Ukrainians allegedly hit the prison in Yelenovka with HIMARS. Direct hit in the barracks with prisoners. The result as of now: 40 dead, 130 injured. While clearing debris. The numbers may increase,” Daniil Bezsonov, a spokesman for the Russia-backed separatists in the Donetsk region, wrote on Telegram.
Bezsonov later updated the death toll to 53 people and called the attack a “war crime.”
He also shared a graphic video purportedly of the aftermath of the attack that showed dead bodies torn apart and significantly burned from the strike. The facility appeared to have suffered massive damage.
Ukrainian officials have not commented on the alleged strike on the prison, and the claims by the Russian-backed forces could not be verified.
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Soldiers from the Ukrainian nationalist Azov Regiment and other Ukrainian units sheltered inside the underground tunnels of the sprawling Azovstal steel plant for months as Russian forces fought for control of the port city of Mariupol and surrounded the facility. They surrendered in May after near constant bombardment by Russian missiles and artillery.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said after the surrender that the soldiers not requiring hospitalization would be sent to the prison facility in Olenivka.
