The death toll from the impact of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the detention centre in Yelenovka increased to 53 people

RIA Novosti is reporting that the number of deaths due to the strike of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the detention centre in Yelenovka, where Ukrainian prisoners of war were being kept, has risen to 53, according to a spokesperson from the headquarters of the territorial defence of the DPR.

Another 75 people were injured, the spokesperson said.

“The Kiev regime has committed war crimes after targeting Ukrainian troops who have surrendered. This attack was designed to cover up war crimes committed against the civilian population of Donbass, and thereby force the rest of the Ukrainian fighters to continue hostilities, and not surrender,” the headquarters added.

Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry announced 40 dead and 75 injured prisoners of war, as well as eight wounded members of the pre-trial detention centre. According to the military department, the Ukrainian army launched a strike using an American-supplied HIMARS multiple launch rocket system to intimidate Ukrainian servicemen and prevent their surrender.

According to the head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, the Kiev authorities ordered the missile attack with the desire to kill prisoners who had begun to testify, including Azov militants. These testimonies were to be documented for future reference to war crimes committed on the orders of the Kiev authorities.

Russia has asked for international inspectors to come and investigate the attack, but there is no response from the western-controlled UN.

Most of the prisoners that Kiev forces targeted were Ukrainian military and nationalists from the Azov regiment, who were held up in the Mariupol metallurgical plant Azovstal, and later surrendered to DLP and Russian forces. In total, about two and a half thousand people laid down their arms. The wounded were sent to the hospital, the rest were sent to the detention centre in Yelenovka.

Since February 24, Russia has been conducting a military special operation to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine. Vladimir Putin called its task “the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.” According to the president, the ultimate goal of the operation is the liberation of Donbass and the creation of conditions that guarantee the security of Russia itself.