Russia deliberately targeted Olenivka – Human Rights Center
Russian military forces deliberately struck Volnovakha Correctional Colony No. 120 near Olenivka, where Ukrainian prisoners of war were held. The aim of the killing was to compromise Ukraine and disrupt the supply of Western weapons. Thisis stated in a report by the Centre for Human Rights in Armed Conflict.
The analysis is based on open sources, as well as testimonies from Ukrainian prisoners of war who survived the strike on the colony in Olenivka on July 28, 2022.
"The false flag attack was likely part of broader Russian efforts to disrupt the growing supply of Western weapons," the researchers said.
The report identifies the weapons and ammunition used by the Russian Armed Forces to kill Ukrainian prisoners of war, and examines in detail the planning, organization, and execution of the attack.
In addition, the course of investigations by Russia, Ukraine, and the United Nations is analyzed, and recommendations are provided to Ukrainian investigators regarding the identification of those responsible for the terrorist attack.
The authors of the study believe that the killing of Ukrainian prisoners of war, allegedly by HIMARS, could have been carried out by soldiers from the Russian 61st and 155th separate marine brigades and the 11th separate Guards motored rifle regiment, which were stationed near Olenivka and had the appropriate weapons.
Dmytro Lubinets, the Human Rights Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada, commented on the report.
"This is an important document that should provide a powerful impetus for the continuation of the investigation. The pain of Ukrainians over the Olenivka tragedy has not gone away. We insist on an investigation and a fair punishment for those responsible!" – he wrote .
On July 29, 2022, Russian occupiers shelled a colony with Ukrainian prisoners of war in Olenivka in the temporarily occupied territory of Donbas.On January 5, 2023, it was reported that UN Secretary-General António Guterres disbanded the mission investigating the mass murder of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Olenivka, as the occupiers never allowed experts to access the crime scene.After the terrorist attack in the Olenivka colony, where at least 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed and 151 more were wounded, Russia has still not allowed UN representatives to the scene of the tragedy .