Prisoners of war killed: Washington says Moscow will create false evidence to accuse kyiv

"We expect Russian officials to attempt to tamper with evidence to attribute the strike on Olenivka prison on July 29 ... to the Ukrainian Armed Forces," the White House spokesman said. strategic issues, John Kirby.

“We believe that the Russians will try to accuse the Ukrainian armed forces before the arrival of journalists and potential investigators at the site of the attack,” he added, referring to information obtained by the services. US intelligence but not made public.

According to Mr. Kirby, Washington believes that the Russian authorities will incriminate a Himars missile, a high-precision artillery system delivered by the United States and become vital for the Ukrainian war effort, by disposing of the fragments of missiles allegedly found in the rubble.

More than 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed in the destruction of this prison located in the Donetsk region.

These included fighters who had surrendered after weeks of siege of the Azovstal factory in Mariupol.

Moscow accuses kyiv of having bombarded this prison camp, which the Ukrainian authorities refute, who affirm on the contrary that these prisoners were massacred by Russian forces.

Finding the truth "

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the bombing a "deliberate Russian war crime".

Russian public television broadcast images presented as those of charred barracks and destroyed metal bed frames.

She showed blurry images of what appear to be human bodies.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres announced on Wednesday the opening of an investigation to discover the "truth".

Investigators from the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Wednesday that they had still not received official authorization to access Olenivka prison.

"To date, we have not been granted access to the prisoners of war affected by the attack and do not have the security guarantees required for such a visit," said the ICRC, which has teams in the surrounding area. because it has been present in Donetsk since 2014 and the start of hostilities between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists.

“We will continue to seek access to POWs who are or were held at Olenivka guided by our humanitarian commitment and our mandate under the Geneva Conventions,” the organization said.