Shelling kills 53 Ukrainian POWs, separatist group claims

At least 53 Ukrainian prisoners of war were reportedly killed by artillery blasts on Friday that Russian-backed separatists blamed on Ukrainian forces.

The shelling reportedly hit a penal colony in the eastern Ukrainian town of Olenivka, where more than 900 Ukrainian POWs captured during the battle for Mariupol were being held after they surrendered from the Azovstal steel plant. A spokesman for the Russian-backed separatists in the region claims that U.S.-provided High Mobility Artillery Rocket System rocket launchers were used in the attack, which also reportedly left 130 injured.

"At night, the Ukrainians allegedly hit the...