A Disputed Blast Kills P.O.W.s
Each side accused the other of committing a war crime. At least 40 captured fighters were killed and dozens more were maimed, according to both Ukrainian and Russian officials.

Russia’s defense minister claimed that Ukraine had used a U.S.-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, to strike the prison. Ukraine’s motive, Russia said, was to intimidate Ukrainian soldiers who might consider surrendering.

Ukraine rejected the claim, accusing Russia of bombing the facility to hide evidence of torture and extrajudicial executions and calling it a false-flag operation to discredit Ukraine.

Ukraine’s domestic intelligence service, the S.B.U., published an audio recording of what it claimed were two Russian-backed separatist fighters discussing the explosion over the phone. In the call, which could not be independently verified, one person said that there was no sound of any rocket before the explosion, and that Russian forces had likely blown up the barracks themselves.