Zelenskyy on Olenivka shelling: UN and ICRC must address this war crime

KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO – FRIDAY, 29 JULY 2022, 23:44

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross to protect the lives of hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners of war and has called on the world to recognise Russia a terrorist state.

Source: Zelenskyy’s video address

Quote: "I heard reports today about the occupiers’ attack on Olenivka, Donetsk region. It was a deliberate Russian war crime, a deliberate mass murder of Ukrainian prisoners of war. More than 50 dead...

When the defenders of Azovstal left the plant, the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross acted as guarantors of the life and health of our soldiers.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Security Service, the Main Intelligence Directorate and the representative of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine issued a joint statement addressing the UN and the Red Cross as guarantors of those agreements regarding the defenders of Azovstal. I support this statement. Now the guarantors must react. They must protect the lives of hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners of war."

Details: President Zelenskyy added that "there should be a clear legal recognition of Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism."

"I am especially appealing to the United States of America – a solution is needed, needed now. Russia has proven with numerous terrorist attacks that it is the biggest source of terrorism in the world today," Zelenskyy stressed.

He also noted that Ukrainian diplomats had taken the information about the Russian attack on Olenivka to the attention of officials at the highest international level.

"The UN Security Council has been informed. All participants in international relations will know what really happened. Russia won't be able to lie to anyone," President Zelenskyy said.

Earlier:

• On the morning of 29 July, Russian-aligned propaganda media reported the shelling of a PoW camp in Olenivka, Donetsk Oblast, where Ukrainian prisoners are being held. Russia has claimed that at least 53 prisoners were killed. The General Staff of Ukraine denied the Russian Federation’s accusations that the attack was carried out by the Ukrainian Armed forces, and said the Russians were trying to cover up the torture and killing of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
• The Ukrainian Directorate of Intelligence believes that the killing of Ukrainian prisoners in Olenivka, Donetsk Oblast, was organised by mercenaries from the Wagner Group [a Russian private military company - ed.] 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 at the PoW camp in occupied Olenivka, which killed at least 53 Ukrainian prisoners.
• The Ukrainian defenders issued a joint statement and demanded that the UN and the ICRC – which acted as guarantors of the lives and health of Ukrainian soldiers – send their representatives to the PoW camp where the Russians are holding the defenders. Representatives from the ICRC said they have submitted a request and will try to reach the shelled PoW camp in Olenivka where Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed.
  
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