Ukraine still has not received the official lists of prisoners of war who died in Olenivka, said representative of the press service of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense, Andriy Yusov.
"The coordination headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war immediately appealed to the Russian Federation to provide lists of those killed and wounded as a result of this terrorist attack, which was committed by the occupiers, as well as to return the bodies of the fallen Ukrainian defenders. The Russians have not yet provided official answers within the framework of international law and the Geneva Convention," he stated on the air of the national telethon.
Yusov added that now there are only Russian death lists published online, but there is no reason to trust them. He says that the arguments of the Russian side regarding the return of the bodies are baseless. The words of the Russians about the return of the dead after the "investigation" is a delay, since such an "investigation" can last months or years.
"So far, Russia is not behaving as a country that wants to prove its non-involvement in this crime," he noted.
Separately, Yusov emphasized that Ukraine also insists on the return of prisoners of war who were injured as a result of the explosion in Olenivka.
- On the night of July 29, an explosion occurred in the colony in Olenivka. 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 torture of prisoners and executions.
- 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.
- 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.
- According to the Ukrainian side, 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 were taken out of Azovstal. The building was completed on July 27, after which some of the captured Ukrainian defenders were transferred to it.
- On August 1, ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets stated that the Russians are allegedly ready to return the bodies of those killed in Olenivka "after the completion of the investigation."