Russia informed UN of evidence proving Ukraine targeted Elenovka

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Russian Deputy Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanskiy informed the UN on Saturday of evidence implicating Ukraine in the targeting of a detention center in Donetsk.

Polyanskiy said that information proving Kiev is to blame for the targeting of the pre-trial detention center in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in Elenovka.

"Today we informed [UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres] that we have irrefutable evidence of Ukraine's responsibility for the shelling of Elenovka. UN should not hide from condemning this crime of Kiev regime." Polyanskiy said on Twitter. 

Today we informed @antonioguterres that we have irrefutable evidence of #Ukraine’s responsibility for the shelling of #Elenovka. UN should not hide from condemning this crime of #Kiev regime. Russia launches international investigation to find the culprits and punish them https://t.co/LqklkUlj5K

— Dmitry Polyanskiy (@Dpol_un) July 31, 2022

"We have called on the UN to immediately give an objective assessment of what happened," Polyanskiy added, revealing that Russia also launched its own international investigation. These statements came as Russia denounced Ukraine’s attempt to blame Russia for the attack.

UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said Saturday that the UN stood ready to conduct an investigation into the recent deadly shelling of a pre-trial detention center in Donetsk's town of Elenivka, which lodged Ukrainian combatants taken prisoner among others if all parties agree.

The detention center was bombed on Friday morning; an attack was carried out by Ukrainian troops as scraps of US-made HIMARS missiles were discovered at the site. 

The DPR has repeatedly accused Ukraine of shelling Donetsk and other locations with HIMARS on Friday, July 29. According to the DPR territorial defense, the strike killed 53 and wounded over 130 people until this time.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was involved in the evacuation process of the wounded as it assisted local personnel.

Earlier on July 29, DPR head, Denis Pushilin, argued that the detention center was targeted after the militants imprisoned in it, most of which as from the nationalist Azov battalion, had started giving their testimonies that would implicate the Kiev regime. The attack was premeditated Pushilin argued. 

The Russian ministry of defense believes that Ukraine attacked as an act of intimidation to eliminate or prevent any testimonies from the militants of the neo-Nazi Azov battalion, which were taken prisoner by the DPR or allied troops.

According to reports, the facility housed Ukrainian fighters captured by Russia and its allied forces during the siege of the Azovstal steel factory in Mariupol.

Read more: UN offers probe into bombing of DPR prison for Ukrainian POWs