US officials believe Russia has been working to fabricate evidence concerning last week's deadly strike on a prison housing prisoners of war in eastern Ukraine.
Russia was looking to plant false evidence that Ukrainian forces were responsible for the July 29 attack on Olenivka Prison, according to a US intelligence official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
The attack left 53 dead and wounded dozens more.
Russia has claimed Ukraine's military used US-supplied rocket launchers to strike the prison, which is located in an area controlled by Moscow-backed separatist Donetsk People's Republic.
The Ukrainian military denied making any rocket or artillery strikes in Olenivka.
Ukraine's military intelligence arm claimed in a statement Wednesday to have evidence that local Kremlin-backed separatists colluded with the Russian FSB, the KGB's main successor agency, and mercenary group Wagner.
They said the group planned to mine the barrack before "using a flammable substance, which led to the rapid spread of fire in the room."
The US official said the classified intelligence, which was recently downgraded, showed that Russian officials might even plant ammunition from medium-ranged High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, as evidence that the systems provided by the US to Ukraine were used in the attack.
Russia was expected to take the action as it anticipated independent investigators and journalists eventually getting access to Olenivka, the official added.
Ukraine has effectively used HIMARS launchers, which fire medium-range rockets and can be quickly moved before Russia can target them with return fire, and have been seeking more launchers from the United States.
The Ukrainian POWs at the Donetsk prison included troops captured during the fall of Mariupol. They spent months holed up with civilians at the giant Azovstal steel mill in the southern port city.
Their resistance during a relentless Russian bombardment became a symbol of Ukrainian defiance against Russia's aggression.
The UN has announced it will launch a fact-finding mission to investigate the prison killings.
UN watchdog appeals for access to Ukrainian nuclear power plant
The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog has appealed for access to a Ukrainian nuclear power plant now controlled by Russian forces to determine whether it was a source of danger.
Contact with the plant in Zaporizhzhia was "fragile", International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Rafael Grossi told Swiss paper Tages-Anzeiger.
"We can't afford faulty communication with the plant in areas relevant to safety," he said.
"We know of allegations that live ammunition is stored in the plant, that there are attacks on the power plant.
"Frankly, if I don't have access, I can't determine that.
"There are contradictions between the accounts of the Russian and Ukrainian sides."
He added he saw no willingness on either side to strike a deal over security zones around nuclear plants. Talks were underway to arrange a visit to Zaporizhzhia.
A Russian-installed official in Ukraine said Ukrainian forces had repeatedly used Western arms to attack the plant.
There are now two of six reactors operating.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday called Russia's actions around the plant "the height of irresponsibility", accusing Moscow of using it as a "nuclear shield" in attacks on Ukrainian forces.
Reuters was unable to verify battlefield accounts from either side of the war.
The IAEA has reported at times losing connection with surveillance systems that keep track of nuclear material at the power plant.
Ukraine's health crisis worsens as shelling continues
Burnt-out staff, increased shelling and the approach of winter has fuelled concerns Ukraine will face a worsening health emergency as the war continues.
There have been 434 attacks on healthcare facilities in the country this year, according to a World Health Organization tracker.
The WHO's Ukraine emergency co-ordinator Heather Papowitz said healthcare teams had become used to working with shelling outside their window.
"It's kind of falling off the news in a way… but this is an emergency of public health," Papowitz told Reuters.
She added areas had become inaccessible due to fighting or Russian occupation, including Donbas in the east and Kherson in the south.
"Getting access is the biggest issue, it is what keeps us up at night," she said.
Disease control is also a factor.
Ukraine has low vaccination coverage for measles and a polio outbreak, and there have been concerns over the risk of cholera.
ABC/Reuters/AP
