“Kyiv Independent” found out the names of those who tortured Ukrainian prisoners of war in Olenivka

The team of “Kyiv Independent” found out the names of several people involved in crimes against Ukrainian prisoners of war in Olenivka.

Journalists talked about this in the film "The Curators of Evil. We call the names of those responsible for crimes in Olenivka", or in English "Inside a prison where Russia tortured Ukrainian POWs".

At first, journalists found photos of several people allegedly involved in the torture of prisoners of war on social networks. They showed these photos to the military, who had already been released from Olenivka. They recognized the supervisors among them:

• Kyrylo Shakurov from Horlivka, previously worked in the Ukrainian penitentiary system;
• Serhiy Yevsyukov — head of the prison, former employee of law enforcement agencies of Ukraine;
• Artem Potapchuk — assistant to the head of the prison;
• Vyacheslav Yakurnov is the head of the prisonʼs operational department;
• Dmytro Neelov — the first deputy head of the prison;
• supervisors Vasyl Bakalynskyi (he was a citizen of Ukraine) and Yuriy Dmytrenko from Horlivka — Shakurovʼs partner.

In the documentary, Ukrainian soldiers who were exchanged from captivity spoke about the conditions of detention in Olenivka: they were housed in damp cells with mold on the walls, up to 50 people were in one room. They were starving, did not receive medical care and drinking water — only technical water. Some were wrapped with tape at night and beaten, demanding that they testify against the command of the Armed Forces.

• On the night of July 29, 2022, explosions rang out in the colony in the occupied city of Olenivka (Donetsk region), where the Russians held Ukrainian prisoners of war from Azovstal. The Russians said that it was the Armed Forces of Ukraine that was hit with HIMARS. However, the General Staff of Ukraine stated that the pre-trial detention center was fired upon by the Russians themselves in order to accuse Ukraine of "war crimes" and to cover up the torture of prisoners and executions. More than 40 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed by shelling, 130 were wounded. Previously, the Russians struck with a thermobaric weapon.
• In October 2023, the UN determined the trajectory of the munition that hit the colony in Olenivka — it was moving from east to west. In July of this year, the UN admitted that the explosions were not caused by HIMARS missiles.
• Earlier, the former head Serhiy Yevsyukov and the inspector of the colony in Olenivka were informed of the suspicion of torturing prisoners of war.