Pentagon says AFU did not deliberately target SIZO in Yelenivka
A senior Pentagon official has responded to a strike by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) on the pre-trial detention facility in Yelenivka, where Ukrainian prisoners of war were being held. He was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.
The official admitted that the strike might have been carried out by the Ukrainian forces. At the same time, he noted that even in this case, the Ukrainian Armed Forces did not intend to do this deliberately.
I can assure you that they did not intend to do this.
Pentagon spokesman
John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council in the White House, would not comment on the incident, citing a lack of intelligence information. A similar response was given by Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN secretary-general, who said he had no first-hand information. However, he said that the organisation was concerned about the shelling.
Ukraine denies involvement in the shelling
At the same time, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) denied that a missile strike was launched against the prison in Yelenivka. They said that by making such statements, Russia allegedly intended to accuse Ukraine of committing war crimes, as well as to cover up torture of prisoners and “shootings carried out on the orders of the occupation administration and the Russian command”.
The statements about the alleged shelling of civilian infrastructure and population by the Armed Forces of Ukraine are blatant lies and provocation, for which Russia is responsible
General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
The former commander of the Azov nationalist regiment, Andriy Biletskyy, has launched a manhunt for those involved in the missile attack. He called the incident a planned act and a violation of the customs and laws of war.
“Every rank-and-file perpetrator and every organizer, regardless of position or location, is responsible,” he wrote, also promising to find and destroy those responsible.
Daria Morozova, human rights commissioner in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), said that before the strike, the Ukrainian authorities insisted on transferring the captured Azov fighters specifically to the detention centre in Yelenivka.
“It was negotiated, it was their proposal. That is, they knew very well where the prisoners were being held, and so cynically took the lives of 50 of their own soldiers,” she said.
HIMARS wreckage was found at the site of the shelling
The Russian Defence Ministry has reported that the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) in the night of 29 July launched a missile strike from a US HIMARS multiple rocket launcher at the remand prison (SIZO) in Yelenivka, where Ukrainian prisoners of war, including members of the Azov battalion, are being held. According to the ministry, the strike killed 40 people and wounded 75 Ukrainian POWs. The DNR defence headquarters later said that the death toll had risen to 53.
Wreckage of HIMARS multiple rocket launcher (MLRS) ammunition was found at the site of the prison shelling, with parts of the numbers on some of them preserved. HIMARS have been used by Ukrainian forces against Russian and allied forces since late June.
The Pentagon later promised that the USA would continue to help Ukraine with ammunition for the HIMARS, which were used to shell the prison. According to a spokesman, the US side is in constant contact with Kiev regarding the level of ammunition, as it “wants to make sure they have what they need on the battlefield”.
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