Russia struck a colony in the occupied village of Olenivka in Donetsk oblast with thermobaric weapons — this is the preliminary conclusion of international experts.
Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin announced this on the telethon on August 1.
"I am informed every 3 hours about what is happening in this proceeding. Currently, we have involved international experts in this case. Their preliminary findings suggest that the cause or method of killing was a thermobaric weapon, which is the preliminary conclusion of several international experts. This is definitely not a missile attack — they [experts] are convinced of that," Kostin said.
As for the specific persons behind this terrorist attack, the investigation is ongoing, but this issue is more complicated. The priority now is the exposure of Russian propaganda about the alleged detonation of the building by missile systems of the HIMARS type.
Thermobaric ammunition is one of the most effective in the conditions of fortified areas and battles in the city. They have an extraordinary destructive power, which is formed due to the high temperature of the "fire cloud" and excess pressure.
- On the night of July 29, explosions rang out in the colony in the occupied city of Olenivka, Donetsk oblast, where the Russians held Ukrainian prisoners of war from "Azovstal". The Russians said that it was the Armed Forces of Ukraine that hit it with HIMARS. However, the General Staff of Ukraine stated that the pre-rial detention center was fired upon by the Russians themselves in order to accuse Ukraine of "war crimes" and to cover up torture of prisoners and executions. More than 40 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed and 130 were injured in the shelling.
- 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. Ukrainian military intelligence said that the explosion was carried out by the mercenaries of PMC Wagner on the instructions of the owner of PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, "Putinʼs cook". They did not coordinate the organization and actual terrorist attack with the leadership of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
- On July 30, the Ministry of Defense of Russia published a list of Ukrainian prisoners of war who allegedly died as a result of a terrorist attack. There are 48 dead in the list, and 73 names in the list of wounded.