Ukrainian Fiction for Understanding the War

in focus

WAR CRIMES

OLENIVKA

Jul 29, 2024

Oksana Astapovych

OLENIVKA - the place where Ukrainian POWs were deliberately killed en masse

Kyiv Post

From the beginning of the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, the Russians attacked the city of Mariupol: in particular, the Azovstal metallurgical plant on the shore of the Sea of Azov, one of Ukrainie's largest and most important industrial enterprises. It was there that the defense of the Ukrainian military lasted for 86 days.

Built with reinforced concrete structures including a deep network of underground tunnels and bunkers originally for storage of raw materials, the plant's extensive infrastructure provided a formitable structure for the Ukrainian military to use as a fortress.

By April 2022, Mariupol was completely encircled by the enemy. The assault on the Azovstal plant intensified. Despite constant shelling with all kinds of weapons: artillery, bombs, and tanks, and small arms battles fought in the streets, thousands of Ukrainians managed to survive in the premises and basements of the plant. It was the last resort for hundreds of citizens including women and children as well an estimate of over 2,000 military. And, it became the symbol of Ukrainian resistance for the entire Ukrainian people.

Once Azovstal became the final holdout of the military - including the Azov battalion, marines and other units of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, police and border guards - the Russian occupiers systematically refused to allow anyone to leave. According to Ukrainian officials, they blocked and shot at all humanitarian corridors, even for civilians.

Despite this supreme danger, the conditions became so dire that, on May 7th, the Ukrainian government announced the evacuation of all women, children, and elderly from the plant. Under the auspices of the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross, the civilians got out, although some of the evacuees were taken prisoner.

Finally, on May 16-17, the Russian occupiers themselves began a partial 'evacuation' of Ukrainian defenders from the plant. Most of them were taken to a filtration camp and prison in the occupied territory of Donetsk region, to the village of Olenivka.

Perhaps Olenivka would have remained one of the dozens of Russian POW prisons on the map if not for the tragedy of July 29 2022. After a massive nighttime explosion that created a huge crater and extensive damage to the facility, where walls and roofs were blown apart and many fires broke out, the world start talking about Olenivka.

Ukrainian prisoners of war were brutally massacred: more than 50 killed, more than 70 severely injured. This is widely regarded as a significant violation of international humanitarian law and A WAR CRIME.

However, as of July 2024, despite significant evidence suggesting that the explosion was a premeditated act by Russian forces, including the deliberate relocation of POWs to the affected barracks shortly before the blast, accountability and justice remain difficult to achieve.

On the morning of July 29, Russian RIA Novosti reported that 53 Ukrainian prisoners of war held on the territory of the colony were killed "during the shelling" of the colony by US-supplied HIMARS. This has internationally been proven not true.

The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine documented an explosion in barracks on the territory of Volnovakha penal colony No. 120 ( OLENIVKA) between 22:00 on July 28 and 01:00 on July 29, 2022. "Ukrayinska Pravda" reported that a few days before the attack, Azov regiment soldiers were transferred to the barracks that were at the epicenter of the explosion.

Survivors of the Olenivka massacre reported that no help arrived for five hours after the explosion. They described the dire conditions they faced and told of their horror in having to watch many die of blood loss and wounds untreated.

And yet the world is cautious about claiming a war crime. As Dusan Vujasanin - Head of Central Tracing Agency Bureau for the conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine at the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) says: "It is extremely important that our words are not interpreted in a way that one of the parties to the conflict would consider a breach of confidentiality. Confidentiality and neutrality are tools that allow us to address important issues."

The tragedy in Olenivka has had affects across Ukrainian society. Young people, former prisoners of Russian prisons, widows and mothers who lost their loved ones in the terrorist attack - they want their voices to be heard by the civilized world.

We present them to you below.

The terrorist attack in Olenivka became the catalyst for my realization that our enemy will never stop, not at anything. They don't care, they just want to destroy us.

Lev Boiko, university student

Olenivka terrorist attack
through my eyes

In 2022, when the tragedy in Olenivka occurred, I did not immediately understand what had happened. It hadn't even been six months since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion. So I guess my brain didn't know how to react to such catastrophes.

read the story

Specially prepared torture chambers... Prisoners forced by their murderers to strip off their clothes before being slowly killed... Some prisoners are pregnant, their fate unknown to their relatives and the state... A defender beaten for three hours thrown into the basement like a sack...

Yulia Paevska (Taira), paramedic

Taira

The day before her capture, medic Yulia Paevska, Taira, provided Associated Press reports with unique footage of besieged Mariupol.

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On the canvas, I hugged you near the barracks in Olenivka, before I let you go to heaven... In fact, our last meeting was in the morgue, when I sobbed, clutching your cold hand through the black bag.

Svitlana Solonska, wife of POW killed

Last meeting

--painting and story by Svitlana Solonska--

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Even in 'Azovstal,' he was trying to save every life during the hostilities. He helped cats and dogs that were dying of hunger and shrapnel. And then the defense of Mariupol, the 'honorable capture' and the terrorist russian attack in Olenivka.

Hanna Kisilishyna, mother of POW killed

Our Pond

We had a wonderful yard and a pond at home, which my son Oleksiy built with his own hands. It had water lilies growing and fish swimming.

read the story

In the third year of Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine, inhumane torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war continues.

Here Russian soldiers post video showing a mock execution and other torment of Ukrainian prisoners of war

khpg.org

Here Ukraine initiates war crimes probe after Russians kill unarmed Ukrainian POWs in Kherson oblast

khpg.org

Russia’s killings of Ukrainian prisoners of war are likely state-approved war crimes

khpg.org

Since the beginning of Russia's large-scale war against Ukraine, more than 3,200 Ukrainian soldiers have returned from enemy captivity.

reported by ArmyInform

Officially, there are more than 25,000 Ukrainian missing persons.

At least 4,337 Ukrainians are in Russian captivity. This is the result of the calculations of the special commission on the Ministry of Reintegration conducted in November 2023.

On October 11, 2022, after difficult negotiations and with the mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross, 62 bodies were transferred to Ukraine during the exchange of the dead, 54 of which were identified as those killed in Olenivka. The identification process has been ongoing since then. The exact numbers of identified persons are known only to prosecutors.

In honor of the second anniversary of the Olenivka massacre, Sheffield DocFest will host the international premiere of the documentary "Witnesses. Captivity Kills."

The film is compiled from the testimonies of soldiers who were held captive in Olenivka, relatives of those who are waiting for their relatives to return from Russian captivity, and media footage from Mariupol, which was taken by eyewitnesses.

Like the film, Brave Action is amplifying voices of victims, of survivors, and those who not only keep going but keep growing too.

YOUNG VOICES

IN TIME OF WAR

Euromaidan Press

Ukrainian News

AP World News

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