Much is still unclear in the Olenivka case. But one thing is certain: Dozens of Ukrainians died in the attack on the prison camp. Kyiv and Moscow blame each other. And the Red Cross - contrary to international law - will not grant a request for access to the surviving prisoners.
The Red Cross has so far been waiting in vain for access to the injured after the attack on a prison camp in eastern Ukraine. "To be clear, our request for access to the prisoners of war from Olenivka prison yesterday was not granted," the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegation in Ukraine tweeted on Saturday evening. The Russian Defense Ministry, on the other hand, said in Moscow that it had invited the ICRC to visit.
Olenivka is near Donetsk in the area controlled by pro-Russian separatists. A rocket is said to have hit the barracks with prisoners of war on Friday night. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke of an intentional Russian war crime. According to the Russian account, the facility was hit by a US HIMARS multiple rocket launcher used by the Ukrainian army. The Russian Defense Ministry released the names of 50 prisoners killed and 73 injured on Saturday. Many fighters from the Azov regiment, which surrendered in May, were in the prison.
The strictly neutral ICRC has the power to visit prisoners of war under international law, which applies to every country in the world. "The Third Geneva Convention gives the ICRC the right to go where prisoners of war are and to question them," the ICRC said on its website. However, the delegates need the formal approval of the party holding the prisoners of war.
Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets on Saturday asked the ICRC to demand access to the prison that was shelled. There are already indications that it was a "planned Russian military operation" and that the explosion took place "inside the prison," said Lubinets. Among other things, the building now attacked had previously been built separately. A nearby barracks was not affected by the attack. Even the windows there were undamaged, and Russian soldiers were "miraculously" not injured. In fact, there are no witnesses to the approach of the alleged Ukrainian missile. Also, only prisoners and no guards from the so-called Donetsk People's Republic are said to have been hit.
Initial analyzes of images and videos also raise doubts about the Russian version that the Ukrainians killed their own soldiers. "If a HIMAR had struck, the building would be in ruins. However, most of the masonry is still intact," analyzes ex-soldier Thomas C. Theiner on Twitter. The US Institute for the Study of War also considers the Ukrainian claim to be more likely based on the visual evidence. However, the institute also states that it is currently unable to independently assess the type of attack or the party responsible for it.
As the news platform Nexta writes, thermobaric weapons, also known as vacuum bombs, could have been used in the attack on the camp in Olenivka. This is indicated by the type of damage to the building. Accordingly, a crater that would have been caused by a rocket impact is missing. There is also no damage from an explosion.
The Ukrainian suspicion that the prisoners of war were killed on purpose is likely to be fueled by a Russian tweet. On Friday evening, the Russian embassy wrote on Twitter that Azov fighters do not deserve execution "by firing squad", but rather a "humiliating death" by hanging, for example, because they are "not real soldiers".
The Ukrainian government reacted with outrage. The tweet should be read by all those who "said that Russia should not be isolated," Kiev Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko wrote on Twitter. There is "no difference between Russian diplomats who demand the execution of prisoners and the Russian troops who execute them in Olenivka".
