14,059 civilians became victims of the invasion of Russian troops, Matilda Bogner, head of the UN Monitoring Mission on Human Rights in Ukraine, reported.
"To date, we have checked and confirmed 14,059 victims among the civilian population. As a result of hostilities, 5,767 civilians died, 8,292 were injured. We have repeatedly pointed out that the actual numbers are probably much higher," Bogner said.
The UN mission confirmed that at least 416 people were "victims of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance" in the occupied territories, 16 of them were found dead, and 166 people were released.
In addition, the mission recorded a number of violations in the detention of prisoners of war. They have been ill-treated and tortured, and in some places they have no access to water or medical care.
As for the colony in the occupied city of Olenivka, Donetsk region, where the Russians hold Ukrainian prisoners of war from Azovstal, the situation with the prisoners there is terrible.
"Many of them suffer from infectious diseases, including hepatitis A and tuberculosis. We also recorded many cases when Ukrainian prisoners of war were not allowed to inform about their capture, location and state of health," said Bogner.
- On the night of July 29, 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 Ukrainian Army that was hit with HIMARS. However, the General Staff of Ukraine stated that the 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. According to preliminary information, the Russians struck with a thermobaric weapon.
- 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 Wagner private military company on the instructions of its owner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, also known as "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 Russian Ministry of Defense 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. Ukraine asks people not to trust these lists, because they are unofficial.
- The UN mission will arrive in Olenivka in the coming days.