• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on NATO and the world community to proclaim Russia a “terrorist state”.
• This follows a missile strike on a Russian detention centre that killed 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war.
• Russia has issued a list of 53 Ukrainian soldiers killed and 73 injured in the attack.

Following a missile strike on a detention centre that murdered 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on NATO and the world community to proclaim Russia a “terrorist state.”

Zelenskyy met with the director of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Zbigniew Rau, and NATO commander Jens Stoltenberg in Kyiv on Tuesday, and stated that he “gave special attention to the subject of our prisoners of war held by Russia.”

“In particular… the Russian terrorist attack in Olenivka, which must become [the] ultimate argument for all civilized countries of the world to officially recognize Russia as a terrorist state,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address.

“Isn’t this a sufficiently brutal and obvious act of terrorism?” he questioned.

Zelenskky’s fury derives from a missile strike on a Russian detention centre outside of Donetsk on Friday.

Russia immediately attempted to accuse Ukrainian forces, claiming that the attack was carried out by US-supplied HIMARS.

Ukrainian officials refuted the accusation, with one telling Fox News Digital that the prisoners were “brutally executed.”

Later, the Ukrainian defence ministry acknowledged that the “Armed Forces of Ukraine did not launch missile [or] artillery strikes in the region of Olenivka settlement.”

Ukraine stated that 40 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and another 75 were injured in the attack, however Russia reportedly issued a list of 53 Ukrainian soldiers killed and 73 injured in the attack, which appeared to target primarily the housing area where the POWs were housed.

The exact facts of the attack remain unknown, owing to Russia’s unwillingness to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) access to the site.

The International Committee of the Red Cross did not react to Fox News Digital’s questions, but did point to comments it made on Wednesday.

“We learned about the alleged attack on Friday 29th July, at which point we immediately requested access to the Olenivka penal facility and to all places where victims are being treated or where the bodies may have been transferred, as well as to facilities where other POWs might have been moved to,” the ICRC said.

“As of yet, we have not been granted access to the POWs affected by the attack nor do we have security guarantees to carry out this visit,” it added, pointing out that gaining access to POWs is mandated under the Geneva Convention.

US defence officials refuted Russian assertions that the strike was carried out with HIMARS supplied by the US, telling Politico last week that satellite photographs showed no evidence of a HIMARS being utilised.

According to another official, the missile strike was not ordered by Kyiv.

Russia’s accusation comes as Ukrainian forces have achieved significant gains in regions such as Kherson with the assistance of US equipment such as HIMARS.

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