Ukraine has called on the international community not to stop efforts to establish justice regarding the mass killing of Ukrainian prisoners of war in occupied Olenivka. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs appealed to the International Criminal Court, other international judicial institutions, and national law enforcement authorities, urging them to continue investigations and bring to justice all those involved in the crime — both direct perpetrators and those who gave the orders.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasizes that the Ukrainian defenders who, after leaving the territory of the Azovstal plant, found themselves in Russian captivity, were under the protection of international humanitarian law. According to the Geneva Conventions, the state holding prisoners of war bears full responsibility for their lives, health, and safety. Therefore, according to Ukraine’s position, the mass death of prisoners in Olenivka is not merely a tragedy, but a serious war crime and a grave violation of international law.
At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasizes that Olenivka is not an isolated episode of the war. Ukraine considers this crime to be part of a systematic practice of violations of international humanitarian law by Russia. These include torture, inhuman treatment, extrajudicial executions, physical and psychological violence against Ukrainian prisoners of war, as well as the illegal detention of civilians. That is why the Ukrainian side calls on states that support international law to join the work of the Special Tribunal on the crime of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and to support international justice mechanisms.
To this day, 46 severely wounded defenders of Mariupol who survived the Olenivka terrorist attack are still being held in Russian captivity.
The tragedy in Olenivka became one of the most high-profile crimes against Ukrainian prisoners of war during the full-scale war. On the night of July 29, 2022, on the territory of Correctional Colony No. 120 in the occupied settlement of Olenivka, Donetsk region, a powerful explosion occurred in a barrack where Ukrainian defenders were being held, most of whom had previously defended Mariupol and had left the territory of Azovstal as part of an agreed evacuation. According to official data, more than 50 prisoners of war were killed, and about 130 more were injured.
Those who survived reported that representatives of the colony did not even attempt to rescue the wounded. The prisoners themselves carried the bodies of the dead and their still-living comrades out of the flames, placing them along the alley near the administration building. Medical personnel among the Olenivka prisoners attempted to save the wounded practically “with their bare hands.” At the same time, according to eyewitness accounts, the colony’s leadership watched with mockery as the wounded died. Medical crews that arrived at the colony remained outside its territory. The occupiers simply refused to allow doctors to reach the wounded.
The Russian side immediately placed responsibility for the tragedy on Ukraine; however, Kyiv categorically rejected these accusations, stating that the explosion was the result of actions by the Russian side.
On September 18, 2022, in the morning, the colony was shelled again, and another Ukrainian prisoner of war was killed.
On October 11, 2022, Ukraine managed to return the bodies of 62 servicemen, including those killed during the mass execution in Olenivka. However, the exact number of victims of this crime and the list of those killed can only be determined after identification.
The Ukrainian authorities emphasize that responsibility for the lives of prisoners of war rests entirely with the state that is holding them. That is why establishing all the circumstances of the tragedy and punishing those responsible remain not only a matter of justice for the families of the deceased, but also an important test for the entire system of international justice.
One of the main obstacles on the path to establishing the truth remains the lack of access for international experts to the crime scene. After the terrorist attack, Russia did not allow either representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross or the specially created UN commission, which was supposed to investigate the circumstances of the tragedy, to enter the Olenivka colony. Instead, access to the explosion site was granted only to Russian state media. Due to the inability to inspect the scene, collect evidence, and interview witnesses, the international investigation was significantly complicated.
Immediately after the terrorist attack, the United Nations announced the creation of a special mission to establish the facts. However, months of negotiations regarding access to the colony produced no results, and on January 5, 2023, the UN was forced to terminate the mission due to the lack of access guarantees from Russia.
Despite this, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine continued to collect evidence remotely. Experts analyzed testimonies from victims, materials published by the Russian side, photographs from the scene of the tragedy, and statements by Russian officials. Subsequent UN reports noted that the nature of the damage indicates an attack from the eastern direction — from territory that at that time was under the control of Russian forces. At the same time, due to the lack of direct access to the scene, the Organization was unable to complete a full investigation and officially establish all circumstances of the crime.
However, based on an analysis by pyrotechnic experts of Russian video footage from Olenivka, a conclusion was made that the situation appeared more consistent with the detonation of a substance with a high combustion temperature inside the building itself rather than shelling, and that, based on the nature of the burning of the bodies, the prisoners had already been dead before the explosion.
On July 31, 2022, Maxar published satellite images of the prison taken on July 27 (before the explosion) and July 30 (after it). The images show that only one building was damaged as a result of the explosion — the one where the Ukrainian prisoners were held. All other facilities remained intact and without visible signs of damage.
On August 1, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin stated that the colony building was destroyed not by missiles, but by another type of weapon. According to the conclusions presented by Andriy Kostin, the method of killing was a thermobaric weapon.
It should be recalled that on July 28, Ukraine established the Day of Remembrance of the Defenders of Ukraine, participants of volunteer formations, as well as civilians who were executed, tortured, or died in captivity. This day was established to honor the memory of all Ukrainians who became victims of torture, executions, and inhumane treatment in Russian captivity.
At the same time, the date is symbolic, as it was precisely at the end of July 2022 that the terrorist attack in Olenivka occurred, becoming one of the largest-scale killings of Ukrainian prisoners of war during the full-scale war.
The establishment of this day is intended to preserve the memory of those killed, remind people of the need to comply with the norms of international humanitarian law, and emphasize the inevitability of punishment for war crimes.