UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed members of a fact-finding mission to look into the July 29 attack on a Donetsk prison in Ukraine that reportedly killed dozens of prisoners of war, said his spokesman.

Guterres announced his decision to launch the fact-finding mission on August 3, following requests from the governments of Ukraine and Russia, which accused each other of carrying out the fatal attack on the prison in Olenivka, Xinhua news agency reported.

In Lviv, Ukraine, in August, the Secretary-General announced his intention to appoint retired General Carlos dos Santos Cruz of Brazil to lead the mission. The appointment has now been done, said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman.

Guterres has also appointed the other members of the team: Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir of Iceland and Issoufou Yacouba of Niger, the spokesman added. The terms of reference of the mission as well as the make-up of the team were shared with Ukraine and Russia. The UN will now continue to work to obtain the necessary assurances to guarantee secure access to the site and any other relevant locations, said Dujarric.

“As the Secretary-General said very clearly in Lviv, to put it simply, a fact-finding mission must be free to find the facts. The team must be able to gather and analyse necessary information. Above all, that means safe, secure and unfettered access to people, places and evidence without any interference from any party,” he added.