Yet another Russian abomination occurred early yesterday. A shattering explosion annihilated the barracks of a prison camp in the Russian-occupied town of Olenivka in the Donetsk province, killing 53 and wounding 75 captured Ukrainian fighters, reported The Washington Post. (Photo, Reuters.)
The NY Times wrote that "videos posted by Russian war bloggers show twisted metal bunk beds and the charred bodies of their former occupants."
Among the imprisoned Ukrainians at Correctional Colony No. 120 were an estimated 2,500 who held out at the Azovstal Iron and Steel works in the city of Mariupol. The Times described them as "trophies" for the Russian invaders, given the global notoriety of the steel-plant battle in which Russia, with all its firepower, was for weeks unable to dislodge the Ukrainian soldiers.
Each army blamed the other for the carnage. Russia’s defense ministry said Ukraine had bombed the camp using a US-made advanced rocket system, intending to send a warning to Ukrainian troops who might be thinking of surrendering. A Russian war blogger posted a video of the wreckage claiming it was caused by a HIMARS rocket. Curiously, no Russian was killed or even injured in the explosion.
The Ukrainians said the accusation was preposterous, which it is. They countercharged with the more reasonable explanation that the Russians had caused the destruction as a cover-up of the atrocities they had committed at the prison camp. "Russian occupiers are pursuing their criminal goals, accusing Ukraine of committing war crimes, while hiding the torture and shooting of prisoners," said the Ukrainian general staff in a statement.
Well it is to remember that Russia routinely blames its own attacks on Ukrainian civilian targets, such as after the airstrike in April on Kramatorsk's train station, killing 59. Moscow offered no evidence that Ukraine carried out a "false flag" operation to smear Russia, as it claimed. Said a U.S. military official of the Russian accusation of a HIMARS attack on the prison camp, "We have seen no evidence to back these claims whatsoever."
Moreover, Ukraine's intelligence service, the SBU, released an audio recording of two Russia-backed separatist fighters talking about the explosion on their phones. One said he heard no sound of a rocket landing and added that Russian forces had probably blown up the barracks.
Ukraine’s SBU, military and its human rights ombudsman labeled the attack "an organized murder of Ukrainian prisoners" and asked the United Nations and the International Red Cross to visit Olenivka to investigate. The Times further reported that "prisoners who have been released from Correctional Colony No. 120 described hellish conditions. Guards provided just enough food for prisoners to survive and meted out regular beatings."
Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine's commander of military intelligence, said he believed the attack was carried out by Russian mercenaries, catching the Russian defense ministry off guard and hastening its ludicrous allegations after the fact.
Whoever the Russian perpetrators of the murderous assault actually were — Putin-supported mercenaries, separatists or regular forces — the Kremlin's defense ministry looks as absurd as ever, charging that Ukraine bears responsibility for the heinous attack which Russian goons so clearly committed.