Russia says it will show UN and ICRC experts the prison camp in Olenivka
OLHA HLUSHCHENKO — SUNDAY, 31 JULY, 02:16
The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation announced that it had invited experts from the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross to the prison camp which is the site of the deaths of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Olenivka.
Source: Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation
Details: The statement by the Russian Ministry says that Russia has "officially invited experts from the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross."
This is allegedly being done "in the interest of conducting an objective investigation of the attack on the pre-trial detention centre in Olenivka, which led to the death of a large number of Ukrainian prisoners of war."
Previously: After the killing of prisoners of war by the Russian occupiers in Olenivka, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence, the Security Service and the Ombudsman of Ukraine have demanded that the UN and the ICRC, which acted as guarantors of the lives and health of Ukrainian fighters, send their representatives to the prison camp.
Moreover, Dmytro Lubinet, the Verkhovna Rada [Ukrainian Parliament] Commissioner for Human Rights, asked the International Committee of the Red Cross to organise a visit to the prison camp destroyed by the Russians in occupied Olenivka to inspect the bodies of dead Ukrainian prisoners and communicate with those who survived the shelling.
Background:
- On the morning of 29 July, Russian-aligned propaganda media reported the shelling of a prison camp in Olenivka, Donetsk Oblast, reporting that at least 53 prisoners were killed.
- The Ukrainian General Staff denied Russian accusations that the strike was carried out by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to the General Staff, the Russians were trying to cover up the torture and murders of prisoners of war.
- The Ukrainian Chief Directorate of Intelligence believes that the killing of Ukrainian prisoners in Olenivka, Donetsk Oblast, was organised by the Wagner Group [a Russian private military company] on the personal instructions of Yevgeny Prigozhin, without coordination with the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defence.
- The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) later disclosed intercepted telephone conversations in which Russian occupiers confirm that Russian troops were responsible for the explosion in the prison camp in Russian-occupied Olenivka, which killed at least 53 Ukrainian PoWs.
Units of the Azov Regiment announced a hunt for all those involved in the mass murder of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Olenivka on 29 July.
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