According to the United Nations, the ammunition used to fire at the colony near Olenivka with Ukrainian prisoners of war was moving along a trajectory from east to west.
This was announced by the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets.
“Videos and photographs of the destroyed barracks showed a point of impact inside the western wall and two possible points of entry through the roof. Although it was not possible to determine the exact type of weapon and its place of origin, the pattern of structural damage seems to be consistent with the indicated ammunition, which moved along a trajectory from east to west," Lubinets quotes the report of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The organization also admitted that the explosions were not caused by HIMARS missiles. The UN notes that "the degree of damage to the walls, ceiling, roof and windows of the barracks, the condition of the bunk beds inside, the size of the residual crater and the radius of damage are not typical of damage by HIMARS ammunition." The UN is confident that even one HIMARS missile would likely cause much greater destruction.
"Unfortunately, even in such a serious report, the UN cannot add 2 + 2 and understand that only the Russian Federation is to blame for the tragedy. I hope that in the next report they will have the courage to write about it directly," said the Ukrainian ombudsman.
- 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 ZSU 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.
- On January 5, 2023, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres decided to disband the mission, as the UN representatives were unable to get to Olenivka. Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets criticized this — he called the position of the UN "mediator-neutral".