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Olenivka prison massacre

Coordinates: 47°49′42″N 37°42′39″E / 47.82846°N 37.71093°E / 47.82846; 37.71093
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Olenivka prison explosion
Part of War crimes in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
LocationFiltration camp on the territory of the former Volnovakha corrective colony (№120)
Molodizhne, Kalmiuske Raion, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine (occupied by Russia, controlled by the Donetsk People's Republic)
Coordinates47°49′42″N 37°42′39″E / 47.82846°N 37.71093°E / 47.82846; 37.71093
Date29 July 2022
Attack type
Unknown (might be an explosion in the building or artillery shelling)
Deaths53+
Injured75+
PerpetratorsDisputed
Map
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100m
110yds
The bombed-out barracks where the captured Ukrainian soldiers who defended Mariupol and left Azovstal were kept
Filtration camp
The bombed-out barracks where the captured Ukrainian soldiers who defended Mariupol and left Azovstal were kept

On 29 July 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a Russian-operated prison near Olenivka, Donetsk Oblast, was destroyed, killing 53 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) and leaving 75 wounded.[1] The prisoners were mainly soldiers from the Azovstal complex, the last Ukrainian stronghold in the siege of Mariupol.

Both Ukrainian and Russian authorities accused each other of the attack on the prison.[2][3] The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said that the Russians shelled the prison in order to cover up the torture and murder of Ukrainian POWs that had been taking place there, and Ukrainian authorities provided what they said were intercepted communications indicating Russian culpability,[4] while Russians suggest that a HIMARS rocket was shot from Ukrainian territory.[5] As of 30 July 2022, there was no independent confirmation of what occurred.[6]

Explosion

On the night of 29 July, a prison near the village of Olenivka, a settlement southwest of Donetsk that is controlled by the Russian-backed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), was destroyed. Russian and DPR casualty tallies suggest 53 Ukrainian POWs died, and another 75 were wounded[7] (a Russian communiqué initially suggested 40 dead and 75 wounded, in addition to 8 guards).[8] The Ukrainian side suggested that about 40 people were dead and 130 were wounded.[9] Both sides agree that there were captive Azov fighters in the destroyed barracks, brought there a few days before the event. Denis Pushilin, the leader of DPR, suggested that among the 193 inmates were at the detention facility, there were no foreigners, but did not specify the number of Ukrainians held captive.[7]

Russian officials released a list of deceased POWs. As of July 30, Ukrainian officials stated that they are unable to verify the list.[10]

Perpetrator dispute

The Ukrainian side laid the blame on the Russians. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) released recordings of taped telephone conversations between Russian soldiers, which suggested that the Russians had planted an explosive inside the building. The SBU added that from available video evidence, some windows were left intact and that no eyewitness accounts mention any shelling or sounds that would have normally accompanied it, which also suggests that no rocket had struck the detention facility.[11] According to Ukraine's Ministry of Defense Intelligence Directorate, the explosion was carried out by the Wagner Group, a Russian government-backed private military company accused of war crimes in Africa, Syria, and Ukraine, but without prior consultation with the Russian defence ministry.[3][12]

Russian authorities stated that the Ukrainian forces attacked the prison using HIMARS rocket systems that had been provided by the United States.[5] On the same day, the Russian embassy in London published a tweet with a video of a couple from Mariupol who said were victims of shelling by Azov Regiment fighters and commented that they "deserve execution, but death not by firing squad but by hanging, because they're not real soldiers. They deserve a humiliating death." The embassy quoted that sentence in the tweet.[13][14]

There is little independent confirmation yet about the veracity of each side's story. The Institute for the Study of War, a U.S. based think tank said that available evidence suggests the Ukrainian version is more plausible as the character of explosions was not consistent with the HIMARS strike, but that it could not say with certainty which side is responsible.[15] InformNapalm, a Ukrainian volunteer initiative, also said the same, but assigned the blame to the Russians by suggesting that they used a RPO-A Shmel flamethrower or an MRO-A rocket and waited for the bodies to burn alive.[16] An Israeli-Ukrainian military officer suggested that Russia perpetrated the attack on Ukrainian war prisoners to make Russian soldiers fear torture and thus deter them from surrendering to Ukrainian forces advancing in the Kherson region.[17]

Reactions

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry appealed to the International Criminal Court regarding the attack, which it called a Russian war crime,[18] and Russia said it was starting its own investigation.[7] Ukrainian officials also called for the International Red Cross and the United Nations to intervene.[19] Late in the evening of 30 July, with some delay, the Russians allowed the representatives of these organisations on the site,[20] though the Red Cross's request to access the site was not granted as of the morning of 31 July.[21]

In a statement issued on 29 July, Josep Borrell, the top foreign relations official of the European Union, blamed Russia for the attack and called it a "horrific atrocity" and a "barbaric act". He also referred to a video of Russian soldiers committing "a heinous atrocity" against a Ukrainian POW (torture and castration),[22] which had begun to be shared on pro-Russian social media.[23] The officials in Estonia,[24] the United Kingdom and France expressed a similar attitude.[25]

See also

References

  1. ^ "В ДНР заявили об ударе ВСУ по колонии с военнопленными в Еленовке. Сообщается о 53 погибших" [The DPR announced the strike of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the colony with prisoners of war in Yelenovka. 53 deaths reported]. Meduza (in Russian). Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  2. ^ "Масова загибель українських полонених в Оленівці. Що відомо" [Mass death of Ukrainian prisoners in Olenivka. What is known]. BBC News Україна (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  3. ^ a b Lister, Tim; Kesaieva, Julia; Pennington, Josh (2022-07-30). "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says prison attack 'deliberate war crime by the Russians,' as Russia blames Ukraine". CNN News. Retrieved 2022-07-30.
  4. ^ "Russians struck Olenivka to cover up the torture and execution of prisoners General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine". news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  5. ^ a b Reuters (2022-07-29). "Russia says Ukraine struck prison in Donetsk region, killing 40". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-07-29. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  6. ^ "Украина обвиняет Россию в ударе по колонии в Еленовке и гибели пленных" [Ukraine accuses Russia of attacking the colony in Yelenovka and killing prisoners]. Радио Свобода (in Russian). Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  7. ^ a b c "Russia, Ukraine trade blame for deadly attack on POW prison". AP NEWS. 2022-07-29. Retrieved 2022-07-30.
  8. ^ "Russia accuses Ukraine of killing POWs with HIMARS system". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2022-07-30.
  9. ^ "Внаслідок обстрілу Оленівки близько 40 осіб загинуло, 130 поранено – розпочато провадження" [As a result of the shelling of Olenivka, about 40 people died, 130 were injured - proceedings have been initiated]. armyinform.com.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2022-07-30.
  10. ^ "Russian offensive campaign assessment: 31 July". Institute for the Study of War. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
  11. ^ Tyshchenko, Kateryna (2022-07-29). "Explosion in the Olenivka penal colony planned and executed by the Russian Federation - conversation intercepted by SSU". Ukrainska Pravda. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  12. ^ "Intelligence: Russia's Wagner Group behind attack on Olenivka penal colony". 29 July 2022.
  13. ^ Nsubuga, Jimmy (30 July 2022). "Outrage as Russian Embassy in UK tweets call for Ukrainian fighters to be executed in 'humiliating death'". Yahoo! News. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  14. ^ Melkozerova, Veronika (2022-07-30). "Russian Embassy in UK tweet responding to Ukrainian PoW massacre causes uproar". The New Voice of Ukraine. Archived from the original on 2022-07-30. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
  15. ^ "Russian offensive campaign assessment: 29 July". Institute for the Study of War. Retrieved 2022-07-30.
  16. ^ "Россия сожгла украинских военнопленных во сне с помощью термобарического оружия – InformNapalm" [Russia burned Ukrainian prisoners of war in their sleep with thermobaric weapons - InformNapalm]. Зеркало недели. Retrieved 2022-07-30.
  17. ^ Ponomarenko, Illia (2022-07-29). "Over 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war killed in Russian captivity". The Kyiv Independent. Retrieved 2022-07-30.
  18. ^ Reuters (2022-07-29). "Ukraine appeals to International Criminal Court after prison attack". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-07-30. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  19. ^ "AFU General Staff, SBU, Main Intelligence Agency and Rada Commissioner for Human Rights demand that UN, ICRC immediately respond to terrorist attack of Russia on Olenivka – statement". Interfax-Ukraine. Retrieved 2022-07-30.
  20. ^ "Война в Украине: Россия согласилась показать ООН и Красному Кресту Еленовку, в Севастополе пять человек ранены при атаке беспилотника - Новости на русском языке" [War in Ukraine: Russia agreed to show the UN and Red Cross Yelenovka, in Sevastopol five people were injured at drone attack- news in Russian]. BBC News Русская служба (in Russian). Retrieved 2022-07-31.
  21. ^ "Оккупанты не пустили Красный Крест на место трагедии в Оленивке" [The invaders did not let the Red Cross in the place of the tragedy in Olenivka]. Зеркало недели. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
  22. ^ "'Sickening' video shows gagged Ukrainian POW being castrated". 29 July 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  23. ^ "Ukraine: Statement by the High Representative Josep Borrell on the latest Russian atrocities | EEAS Website". www.eeas.europa.eu. Retrieved 2022-07-30.
  24. ^ "Estonian politicians condemn Olenivka prison attack". ERR. 2022-07-30. Retrieved 2022-07-30.
  25. ^ "Ukraine : Paris exprime son "horreur" après le bombardement d'une prison" [Ukraine: Paris expresses its "horror" after the bombing of a prison]. TF1 INFO (in French). 2022-07-30. Retrieved 2022-07-30.
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