According to pro-Russian separatist forces, at least 40 Ukrainian prisoners of war died after Ukrainian forces shelled a barracks housing captured soldiers in the city of Olenivka in the occupied east on Friday
“Direct hit on a barracks full of war prisoners,’’ a separatist spokesperson told the news agency.
Kyiv made no response, and the assertion could not be independently corroborated.
According to the reports, there were also 130 wounded, but it was noted that there may be more victims because there are more individuals buried in the wreckage.
Olenivka is located in the area that the separatist organizations claim.
A representative for those fighters said that missiles fired by the precision HIMARS artillery rocket system, which the U.S. would have supplied, targeted the city.
Ukrainian soldiers seized at the fall of Mariupol earlier in the year were being held in the city.
For alleged war crimes, the death penalty had been promised for several of those Ukrainian soldiers.
The penitentiaries in Olenikva reportedly have harsh conditions.
Photos of the city of Ilovaisk, 40 kilometers east of Olenivka, which experienced explosions overnight, were widely shared on social media.
Since 2014, pro-Russian separatists have been at odds with Kiev for control of a sizable portion of the country’s east.
When Russia sent its own forces into Ukraine in February, claiming that this was essential to “de-Nazify” and disarm Ukraine, the conflict heated up.
However, as the British Ministry of Defence noted on Twitter on Friday, members of the private Wagner Group militia had been incorporated into Russian formations.
Similar to regular army units, they were given responsibility for particular areas of the front line.
The move would undercut Russian efforts to claim that there are no connections between the Russian army and private militias, the ministry said, noting that Wagner has generally operated independently of the Russian armed forces.
“Wagner’s role has probably changed because the Russian Ministry of Defence has a major shortage of combat infantry.
“However, Wagner’s forces are highly unlikely to be sufficient to make a significant difference in the trajectory of the war.’’
