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, UN said in a statement.

The UN Chief announced his decision to launch the fact-finding mission on August 3, following requests from the governments of Russia and Ukraine, which accused each other of carrying out the fatal attack on the prison in Olenivka, as per reports.

The Secretary-General announced his decision to name retired Brazilian General Carlos dos Santos Cruz to command the mission on Thursday in Lviv, Ukraine. According to the spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, the appointment is now complete.

The statement added that Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir of Iceland and Issoufou Yacouba of Niger have also been appointed by Guterres to the team.

Russia and Ukraine were informed of the mission's guidelines and the team's composition. According to Dujarric, the UN will now keep working to gain the necessary guarantees to ensure secure access to the site and any other pertinent locations.

"A fact-finding team must be allowed to investigate the facts, to put it simply, as the Secretary-General said quite emphatically in Lviv. The team must be able to compile and analyse the required data. Above all, that entails granting unrestricted, safe access to individuals, locations, and evidence without outside interference "he said.

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