Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General, announced the fact-finding mission designated to investigate the bombing carried out against the penitentiary of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).
RELATED:
UN Chief Calls for Taxing Windfall Profits of Energy Companies
During a press conference on the Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy, and Finance, Guterres said that Russia and Ukraine had requested the UN to investigate the matter. "I decided in line with my own competencies and powers to launch a fact-finding mission," said the UN chief.
He highlighted that the organization has "the authority to do criminal investigations but to launch a fact-finding mission." Adding that "the terms of reference for that fact-finding mission are being prepared at the present moment; they will be shared with the government of the Russian Federation and the government of Ukraine."
He commented on the expectations "to have an agreement on the terms of reference of that mission." The UN top official said that they "are at the same time looking for competent, independent people that could integrate that fact-finding mission. And we hope to have all the facilities from both sides for access and for the obtention of all data necessary to clarify the truth about what has happened. So this is a matter that we took very seriously."
The Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov, reported that Kiev's army used a US-made HIMARS rocket system on the attack against the pre-trial detention center in the Yelenovka settlement where captured Ukrainian troops are kept.
Reports have recorded that 50 Ukrainian service members were killed and 73 wounded. After this event, the Russian Federation urged experts from the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to investigate the attack.