Ukraine Denies Killing Dozens Of Prisoners; Grain Deliveries Uncertain

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

KYIV (Worthy News) – Ukraine’s military has denied responsibility for an attack on a prison in separatist-held territory that Russia’s defense ministry said killed dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war.

Instead, the general staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) blamed Moscow for Friday’s bloodshed in which at least 50 Ukrainian inmates reportedly died, and 75 were injured.

“The armed forces of the Russian Federation carried out targeted artillery shelling of a correctional institution in the settlement of Olenivka, Donetsk oblast, where Ukrainian prisoners were also held,” the UAF stressed.

“In this way, the Russian occupiers pursued their criminal goals – to accuse Ukraine of committing ‘war crimes, as well as to hide the torture of prisoners and executions,” it added.

The prison in Yelenovka was housing Ukrainian service personnel who had been there since the fall of the coastal city of Mariupol.

Russian authorities suggested they were targeted to either prevent them from testifying against Kyiv or from deterring other Ukrainian armed forces from surrendering.

MORE VICTIMS

Elsewhere, at least several people were killed and seven injured in a suspected Russian strike on a bus stop in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv.

Regional governor Vitaliy Kim said at least five people died, with footage showing a street littered with bodies.

Ukraine and Russia battle over key areas in southern Ukraine where Ukrainian forces try to bomb and isolate Russian troops in hard-to-resupply areas.

Ukrainian planes struck five Russian strongholds around Kherson and another nearby city on Thursday, its military claimed.

Kyiv said it had also retaken some small settlements on the Kherson region’s northern edge.

The Ukrainian counteroffensive in the country’s south is “gathering momentum,” according to British defense and intelligence officials.

RUSSIAN STRUGGLES

Ukraine has virtually cut off the Russian-occupied southern city of Kherson. British defense officials said that had left thousands of Russian troops stationed near the Dnieper River “highly vulnerable” and isolated.

British Defense Minister, Ben Wallace, has said that Russian forces in Ukraine are in “a tough spot.” He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s strategy is akin to putting his troops through a meat grinder.

The minister claimed Russia was “certainly not able to occupy the country. They may be able to carry on killing indiscriminately and destroying as they go, but that is not a victory”.

However, as the death toll rises among its regular troops, Moscow uses increasingly Russian private military firm Wagner for operations, several Western officials said.

Wagner forces were seen in sectors of the front line in eastern Ukraine, as Russia is facing a significant shortage of combat infantry, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said.

With battles raging, residents of Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region have reportedly been urged to evacuate.

Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk reportedly said people risked being cut off from “power, water, food and medical supplies, heating and communication” if they stayed in the area.

MOSCOW DENIES

Moscow denied involvement in war crimes in what it called its “special military operation” to protect Russian speakers and root out “dangerous” nationalists. Ukraine said Moscow is waging an unprovoked war of conquest.

The latest fighting came as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday his country is ready to resume grain shipments from Black sea ports blocked by Russian forces.

It was awaiting a signal from the United Nations and Turkey to start the shipments to millions of starving people, he added.

Zelensky’s office said the president visited the Black Sea port of Chornomorsk, blockaded by Russia, to see preparations for the shipments under an U.N.-brokered agreement signed in Turkey last week.

“Our side is fully prepared. We sent all the signals to our partners – the U.N. and Turkey, and our military guarantees the security situation,” he said in remarks distributed by his office.

“The infrastructure minister is in direct contact with the Turkish side and the U.N. We are waiting for a signal from them that we can start,” he added in the statement.

Yet with clashes continuing, concerns remained about the impact of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine on global food and energy supplies.

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