Russia Says Ukraine Shelling Killed Dozens of Ukrainian POWs; Ukraine Denies the Attack

Russia Says Ukraine Shelling Killed Dozens of Ukrainian POWs; Ukraine Denies the Attack
Red Cross staff drive by in their vehicles to the besieged Mariupol's Azovstal steel plant to observe the evacuation of Ukrainian servicemen from Azovstal steel plant, in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, on May 18, 2022. AP Photo
The Associated Press
Updated:

KYIV, Ukraine—Russia and Ukraine accused each other Friday of shelling a prison in a separatist region of eastern Ukraine, an attack that reportedly killed dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war who were captured after the fall of a southern port city in May.

Russia said Ukraine’s military used U.S.–supplied multiple rocket launchers to strike the prison in Olenivka, a settlement controlled by the Moscow-backed Donetsk People’s Republic. Separatist authorities and Russian officials said the attack killed 53 Ukrainian POWs and wounded 75.