The Security Service of Ukraine, the Main Intelligence Directorate, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the Commissioner for Human Rights issued a joint statement regarding the mass murder of Ukrainian prisoners of war in the Olenivka colony.
According to the Russians, more than 50 Ukrainian defenders died at the scene of the tragedy, the number of wounded is unknown. At the same time, not a single worker of the colony or Russian military was injured. At the same time, Russia blamed Ukraine for the shelling.
On this occasion, Ukraine stated that Russia had committed a false flag provocation in order to discredit the Armed Forces.
In the statement, the parties recalled that on May 16, with the mediation of the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross, the process of evacuating the defenders of Mariupol from the territory of the Azovstal plant began. And it was to these organizations that Russia gave a guarantee that it would preserve the lives of the prisoners.
"This guarantee was cynically violated," Ukraine emphasizes.
In view of this and other evidence of the deliberate killing of prisoners, the law enforcement and legal structures of Ukraine demand:
- The United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, which acted as guarantors of the life and health of Ukrainian prisoners of war, immediately respond to the terrorist act committed by Russia.
- Immediately send representatives of the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Ukrainian Commissioner for Human Rights, and representatives of the Joint Center for the Search and Release of Prisoners to the territory of the colony for its inspection.
It should be noted that the US is currently studying information about the killing of prisoners. National Security Council Communications Coordinator John Kirby explained that there is currently insufficient intelligence to make a statement. The UN has not yet commented on the strike on the colony.
- On the night of July 29, explosions rang out in the colony in the occupied city of Olenivka, Donetsk region, where the Russians kept Ukrainian prisoners of war. The Russians said that it was the ZSU that was hit with HIMARS. However, the General Staff of Ukraine stated that the pre-trial detention center was shelled by the Russians themselves with artillery 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, and 130 were injured.
- The explosions took place on the territory of the industrial zone in a newly built building that was supposed to be specially equipped to hold prisoners who had been taken out of Azovstal. The building was completed on July 27, after which some of the captured Ukrainian defenders were transferred to it. The Security Service of Ukraine intercepted telephone conversations in which the occupiers confirm that Russian troops are responsible for the shelling of the pre-trial detention center.