US officials believe Russia is trying to fabricate evidence about the attack on the former penal colony No. 120 in the village of Yelenovka, which is under the control of the self-proclaimed “People’s Republic of Donetsk”. An unnamed American official familiar with the intelligence services’ findings told the AP news agency on Wednesday, Aug. 3. US intelligence officials have determined that Moscow is trying to create the impression that the Ukrainian side is responsible for the attack, which killed more than 50 people.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Aug. 3 that the organization is preparing a group of experts to investigate the deaths of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Yelenovka. Guterres stressed that experts need unimpeded access, which must be provided by both sides of the conflict.

Ukrainian POWs from Azovstal

The territory of the former penal colony was bombed on 29 July. Some of the Ukrainian servicemen who were captured from the territory of the Mariupol Azovstal factory in mid-May were held there. As a result of the attack on Yelenovka, more than 50 people were killed, more than 70 – according to pro-Russian forces – were injured.

Russia and Ukraine accused each other of bombing. Thus, the Russian Federation claimed that the Ukrainian military used US-supplied HIMARS multiple-launch rocket systems to bomb the colony. The Ukrainian military denies any rocket or artillery attacks on this settlement. The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine claims that the explosion on the territory of the penitentiary institution, where the Ukrainian prisoners of war were held, was carried out at the hands of PMC Wagner fighters without the consent of the Russian Ministry of Defense.

The Kyiv authority on the same day asked the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to send an inspection mission to Yelenovka. The Russian Defense Ministry later said it had “officially invited” UN and ICRC experts to the scene to “conduct an objective investigation”. For its part, the ICRC indicated that it had not received a response to its request to visit the colony.