White House says Russia plans to falsify evidence to frame Ukrainian forces in jail attack
Olenivka prison in Donetsk seen in a satellite photo provided by Maxar Technologies on July 30, following the attack on the facility. (Maxar Technologies/AP)
White House officials believe Russia is preparing to falsify evidence to blame Ukrainian forces for the deadly Olenivka prison explosion before outside parties visit the site.
An administration official told CNN that they expect Russia to falsify evidence, blame Ukrainian forces and even have “reason to believe that Russia would lead the belief that the Ukrainian HIMARS were the culprit before the journalists arrive.”
The United States supplied Ukraine with the HIMARS multiple launch missile system earlier this year.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared that the attack on the prison, which is in eastern Ukraine held by separatists, was “a deliberate war crime by the Russians.”
Russia previously blamed Ukraine for the attack.
UN Mission: The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, said at a press conference on Wednesday that the UN is trying to establish an investigation team to study the attack on the detention center that caused at least 50 deaths and dozens of injuries among Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Both Russia and Ukraine have requested an investigation into the attack, Guterres told reporters in New York. He added that the group’s terms of reference must be accepted by Russia and Ukraine before the fact-finding mission begins.
Ukraine blames a group of mercenaries: The Intelligence department of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense affirmed this Wednesday that the detonation of the building where the Ukrainian soldiers were held “was carried out by the fighters of the ‘Wagner’ military command center using a highly flammable substance, which caused the rapid spread of fire in the facilities”.
Wagner is a private military contractor whose fighters have been involved in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as other conflicts in Africa and the Middle East.
CNN cannot verify the claim of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence department, which did not provide any evidence to support its allegation.
What Russia Says: the Russian government has rejected White House accusations that it is falsifying evidence.
“One thing can be said here, which is absolutely obvious and absolutely proven about what happened in Olenivka. People, namely Ukrainian prisoners of war, who were held there, died at the hands of the Ukrainian military,” said the spokesman for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, to journalists in a call on Thursday.
“Ukraine killed its soldiers who were in captivity. Many were injured. Therefore, there is strong evidence here and there is nothing to hide,” Peskov said.
In the call on Thursday, Peskov said that Russia had invited the UN and the ICRC to visit the site. However, in a statement issued on Wednesday, the ICRC said it had not yet been given access to the site.
CNN’s Uliana Pavlova contributed to this article.