Russia Passes Data to UN Proving Kiev to Blame for Elenovka Attack, Deputy Envoy Says

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - Russia has informed the United Nations that it has evidence showing that Kiev is to blame for the deadly shelling of the pre-trial detention center in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) town of Elenovka, Russian Deputy Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanskiy said.

"Today we informed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that we have irrefutable evidence of Ukraine's responsibility for the shelling of Elenovka. The UN should not shy away from condemning this crime of the Kiev regime," Polyanskiy said on Telegram.

He emphasized that Russia condemns Kiev’s attempts to blame Russia for the attack.

"We have called on the UN to immediately give an objective assessment of what happened," Polyanskiy said, adding that Russia has launched an international investigation.

Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that Russia had invited experts from the United Nations and the Red Cross to participate in the investigation into the deadly shelling of the pre-trial detention center in Elenovka.

The Elenovka detention center, hosting Ukrainian prisoners of war, was shelled by Ukrainian troops with US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) on Friday morning. According to the DPR territorial defense, the death toll from the strike has reached 53, and the number of wounded has surpassed 130.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) offered its support in the evacuation of the wounded on Friday. UN spokesman Farhan Haq said on Saturday that the United Nations was ready to conduct an investigation into the Elenovka shelling.

DPR head Denis Pushilin said on Friday that the shelling of the detention facility was premeditated and launched because the militants imprisoned there, particularly those from the nationalist Azov battalion, had started to give testimonies implicating the Kiev regime.