The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will try to get to Olenivka, where about 40 people were killed and 130 injured as a result of artillery shelling of a penal colony where Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) were held.

"Of course, we are aware of this situation and asked for access to this place as soon as possible in order to make sure and see with our own eyes what happened and whether any of the people there need our help," said the ICRC spokesperson in Ukraine Oleksandr Vlasenko on the telethon.

He also said that a hotline of the central agency of the Red Cross will work in Geneva, where relatives of prisoners of war can apply.