MOSCOW, July 29. /TASS/. Members of the Azov nationalist battalion who were kept in a correctional facility in Yelenovka were providing statements that Kiev found inconvenient, Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Denis Pushilin told the Rossiya-24 TV channel, commenting on the recent Ukrainian strike on the facility.
"The plan was to stop them from giving testimony. In fact, they - I mean, the Ukrainian regime - took cynical steps, simply deciding to kill those people. Their statements are of particular interest to our investigative bodies because they make it possible to figure out how high the level of complicity of certain commanders, including generals who gave orders, and even as high as officials from [Ukrainian] President Vladimir Zelensky’s office. This is the evidence base that will be crucial for upcoming tribunals," he pointed out.
In the early hours of Friday morning, the Ukrainian military used a US-made HIMARS rocket system to shell a pre-trial detention center in the Yelenovka settlement where captured Ukrainian troops are kept, including members of the Azov battalion. According to the latest data released by the DPR Territorial Defense Headquarters, the attack killed 53 Ukrainian service members and left another 75 wounded.