As it called for an international investigation into what it described as “a terrorist attack”, the Ukrainian government on Saturday said it was gathering evidence to prove that Russia orchestrated a case. Explosion at a Russian prison kills dozens of Ukrainian prisoners.
Since the explosion occurred late Thursday at a camp on Russian-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine, both sides have raised accusations about the origin of the explosion that killed at least 50 prisoners. many are considered national heroes after being captured during the siege of a steel mill. in the coastal city of Mariupol.
Russian officials claim that Ukraine attacked the prison itself, to stop defectors, while Ukrainian authorities dismissed the story as absurd and said the deaths were a calculated act of brutality. advance of Russian forces from inside the prison, where survivors described deplorable conditions and rituals. abuse.
Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the President of Ukraine, told The New York Times that experts’ analysis of photos and videos released by Russia showed that the center of the explosion was inside the building, with the exterior of the building. The building is practically undamaged.
“Any military expert would say that the aftermath of an explosion is not similar to a missile or artillery attack,” he said.
The Russian Defense Ministry on Saturday maintained that the Ukrainians killed their own soldiers using precision-guided, US-made missiles, known as HIMARS, that hit a prison camp in the territory held by Russia. Russia controls eastern Ukraine.
Competing claims cannot be independently verified immediately.
A senior US military official, speaking about Russian claims of a HIMARS attack on the camp, said on Friday that Washington has seen no evidence to support those claims.
Mr. Podoliak said that Ukrainian prisoners were transferred to the barracks where the explosion occurred just days before the incident and said it was suspicious that no Russian soldiers or workers at the prison were injured.
He accused Russia of moving debris from other locations where Ukraine hit targets with HIMARS to the prison camp before the explosion.
“This, as well as the speed and organization of Russian propaganda, shows that the terrorist attack was planned,” he said. “The purpose of this despicable terrorist attack is to cover up previous Russian war crimes against prisoners, discredit the Ukrainian armed forces, disrupt the supply of weapons. of the West and create tension in Ukrainian society”.
He also tied it to the international agreement to start shipping grain from Ukrainian ports, saying it sends a clear message that Russia’s guarantee to allow cargo to move out safely is unbelievable.
Tetiana Kravchenko, an organized Ukrainian human rights activist who comes into contact with prisoners in the camp, said they can only release limited information about what they have learned to protect the safety of the prisoners. detainees there.
She said a Ukrainian prisoner called his wife on Thursday night and reported hearing an explosion at around 11pm.
“Not shelling, just an explosion,” Kravchenko said, adding that she had a recording of the call. “He also said that two of his friends were taken out of the prison, where he was, earlier on the same day when the explosion occurred.”
One of his friends was injured in the explosion and another was killed, she said. Soldiers detained in other areas of the camp have also forwarded similar accounts to their family members, Ms. Kravchenko said.
She said witnesses from the camp did not recognize the barracks where the explosion occurred, claiming it was in part of a compound not used to hold prisoners.
The prison camp is divided into two large squares, she said, with a road crossing in the middle. On one side are the dining room, church, administrative building and barracks. On the other side is an industrial area that prisoners do not visit.
General Kyrylo Budanov, commander of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, said on Friday that construction of barracks in the industrial zone had been completed two days earlier and that prisoners had been moved there shortly before the explosion. happen.
