The Russian Ministry of Defense accused the Ukrainian army of bombing a prison in Donetsk, killing 53 and wounding 75 prisoners of the Ukrainian army, while British military intelligence said that elements of the Russian Wagner Group are likely fighting on the front lines in Ukraine.
A statement by the ministry added that the Ukrainian armed formations bombed with US HIMARS missiles, during the night, the Yelinovka Detention Center No. 120 of the Prison Service of the Ministry of Justice in the Donetsk Republic, where Ukrainian prisoners are being held.
The ministry added that among the captured victims, were members of the Ukrainian Azov Battalion, who surrendered in Mariupol at the end of last May, and that 8 employees of the center were also wounded.
The ministry described the bombing as a "bloody provocation" by the Kyiv regime aimed at intimidating the Ukrainian military wishing to lay down their arms and surrender to the Russian forces.
In turn, the President of the "Donetsk People's Republic" Denis Pushilin confirmed that the bombing of the former detention center in Lilinovka was carried out because the militants held there, in particular, extremists from "Azov", began to testify.
On the other hand, the Ukrainian General Staff denied Russian accusations of bombing a prison in Donetsk, which led to the killing and wounding of dozens of Ukrainian prisoners, blaming the Russian army for the attack.
"The Russian occupiers are seeking to achieve their criminal goals by accusing Ukraine of bombing the prison, in order to hide the torture and shooting of prisoners on the orders of the occupation administration and the leadership of the armed forces of the Russian Federation," she said in a statement.
For his part, the adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Minister said that our forces will not target the places of detention of prisoners, and the targeting of the Donetsk prison must be investigated.
Russian bombing
In a related context, 5 people were killed and 7 others wounded in a Russian bombing targeting a bus station in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine.
The governor of the Mykolaiv region Vitaly Kim said that a Russian missile fell near a public transport station, stressing that the number of casualties is likely to rise.
The Ukrainian army also reported an increase in the intensity of the battles with the Russian forces on the Sneherivka and Pashtanka fronts in the province, pointing out that the clashes are taking place with artillery and rocket launchers, and that its forces were able to destroy 4 Russian ammunition depots.
Al-Jazeera correspondent reported that an explosion occurred in the city of Kharkiv (northeast) this Friday morning, as a result of a missile strike that hit the city center.
Igor Terekhov, the mayor of Kharkiv, said that the missile strike targeted a building of a higher education institution and another residential building in the city, with no casualties recorded so far.
For its part, the Supreme Staff reported that 16 towns in the Kharkiv province were subjected to artillery and missile shelling, while two Mi-8 helicopters were used in shelling targeting the town of Starly Saltav, located on the front line east of the province.
And in the Donbass region (east), 3 Ukrainians were killed and dozens were wounded in Russian shelling targeting the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region.
Pavlo Korlenko, the governor of the civil-military administration in the province, said that the Russian forces used cluster shells in their bombardment, explaining that the death toll is likely to rise while rescue teams are working to put out the fires and remove the victims from the targeted place.
Ukrainian soldiers on one of the battlefronts in Kherson (Getty)
Kherson battles
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Southern Operations Command confirmed the killing of dozens of Russian soldiers in the bombing of Russian positions in the southern Kherson province.
It indicated the destruction of a Russian military base, a radar station, armored units, howitzers and tanks.
And the Ukrainian army has boosted its hopes that parts of the south of the country can be restored, stressing that progress is being made in isolating Russian forces.
The Kyiv operation focuses on retaking the Kherson region, north of Crimea.
Russian forces captured the main city in the region, also called Kherson, days after the start of the attack on Ukraine on February 24.
Yesterday, Thursday, British intelligence said in a report that Ukrainian forces, with the help of artillery supplied by the West, damaged at least 3 bridges over the Dnipro River that Russia depends on to transport supplies for its forces to the occupied territories.
Kyiv has claimed that these forces are increasingly isolated from other Russian strongholds in Ukraine, thanks to long-range missile attacks.
A new role for Wagner
In a related context, British military intelligence said - today, Friday - that elements of the Russian company Wagner are likely fighting on the front lines in eastern Ukraine, and this may be due to the significant shortage that Russia is facing in combat infantry.
Britain stated - in a periodic intelligence bulletin on Twitter - that this decision is a significant change from the previous assignment of the company's elements since 2015, when it usually carried out tasks different from the regular public and large-scale Russian military activities.
She added that it is unlikely that Wagner's forces will be enough to make a significant difference in the course of the battles in Ukraine.
For his part, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said - on Friday - that Russia is failing on "many aspects" in its war in Ukraine and that President Vladimir Putin may seek to change the strategy followed again.
Wallace added - in statements to Sky News - that "the Russians are currently failing on the ground in many aspects ... Putin's plans (A), (B) and (C) failed, and he may turn to plan (D)."
Hungarian vision
Politically, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said that Ukraine cannot defeat Russia with the current NATO strategy of supporting Kyiv with arms and training.
The Hungarian Prime Minister added, during a press conference with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, that without peace in Ukraine the whole European Union will be pushed into a state of war.
He noted that it is not clear how a recession in the European Union can be avoided if the war in Ukraine continues.
For his part, Dmitry Polyansky, First Deputy Representative of Russia to the United Nations, said that the UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine will be held today, Friday, at the initiative of Western countries.
On February 24, Russia launched an attack on Ukraine, followed by international rejection and strict economic sanctions against Moscow, which required to end its operation Kyiv abandoning plans to join military entities and maintaining neutrality, which the latter considers an "interference" in its sovereignty.