Olodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of committing further war crimes after a deadly rocket attack on a prison.
Up to 50 Ukrainian POWs were killed in a rocket attack on Friday, with Moscow and Kiev accuse each other of committing the attack.
RussiaThe defense ministry said 50 prisoners were killed and 75 injured in the attack on the prison in the frontline city of Olenivka, in a part of Donetsk province held by separatists. The Kremlin claimed the attack was carried out by Ukrainian forces using US-made Himars missiles.
However, Zelensky said the attack was a “deliberate war crime by the Russians”.
“The occupying forces’ attack on Olenivka is a deliberate war crime by the Russians, a deliberate mass murder of Ukrainian prisoners of war,” Zelensky said in a statement.
“There should be a clear legal recognition of Russia as a terrorist state. Russia has proven with numerous terrorist attacks that it is the biggest source of terrorism in the world today,” the Ukrainian president added.
Many Ukrainian soldiers, including some captured after the surrender of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, have been taken to Olenivka in recent months.
The Ukrainian armed forces deny carrying out the attack. They said Russian artillery had targeted the prison to cover up the mistreatment of prisoners before Ukraine was blamed.
Video released by a Russian war correspondent, Andrei Rudenko, shows Russian-backed soldiers searching the remains of what he said was the prison.
The smashed roof of the burnt-out building hangs down and the charred remains of bodies are shown.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the prison housed Ukrainian POWs and eight prison workers were also injured.
Russian-backed separatist leader Denis Pushilin said there were no foreigners among the 193 detained.
It comes as British defense chiefs say Ukraine has repulsed Russian attacks from the frontline near Donetsk.
The latest update from the Ministry of Defense (MoD) also warns that Russia-installed authorities in southern Ukraine will hold referendums on formal accession to Russia later this year.
It adds: “Russia currently classifies the occupied territories as under interim ‘civil-military administration’. Local authorities are likely forcing the population to release personal data in order to compile voting registers.”