Olenivka killing: the building was mined so that fire would spread quickly – Ukrainian Intelligence Directorate

ALONA MAZURENKO —  WEDNESDAY, 3 AUGUST 2022, 17:29

Ukrainian intelligence says that in order to kill the prisoners of war at Olenivka, Wagner Group mercenaries mined the premises where the Ukrainian fighters were, and that they were killed to cover up the atrocities involved in their "interrogations".

Source: Chief Intelligence Directorate 

Quote: "Some of the circumstances have been established with regard to the deliberate killing of Ukrainian prisoners of war in the prison camp at the village of Olenivka (Donetsk Oblast), where Ukrainian prisoners of war, including members of the Azov Regiment, were being held...

The Russian side had no intention of exchanging the prisoners of war and deliberately killed the prisoners in order to cover up the improper conditions and forms of interrogation of Ukrainian servicemen (which could serve as an evidence base at the Hague Tribunal).

According to the available information, the place where the Ukrainian soldiers were detained was mined by mercenaries from the Wagner Group using a highly flammable substance, which caused the rapid spread of fire in the premises."

Details: The intelligence officers report that the Ukrainian defenders were interrogated by so-called investigators from the "ministry of state security" of the "DPR" (the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic), together with representatives of the Wagner Group and the FSB (Federal Security Service) of the Russian Federation.

During these interrogations, the occupiers made extensive use of physical torture and beatings.

The Chief Intelligence Directorate adds that the aim of this torture was not to obtain confidential information, but to bully, physically humiliate and psychologically demoralise Ukrainian soldiers with the aim of breaking their moral and psychological qualities.

Had their plan been successful, the FSB representatives intended to use Ukrainian prisoners in filming pro-Russian reports.

The purpose of such reports was to broadcast the prisoners’ admission of their "crimes and atrocities against the local population, the fighters' renunciation of their views, and their condemnation of the actions of the Ukrainian leadership".

It is noted that interrogations were conducted on a regular basis, but they failed - due to the exceptional courage and indomitable willpower shown by the Ukrainian prisoners.

Background:

• On 29 July, Russian-aligned propaganda media reported on the shelling of the prison camp at Olenivka, Donetsk Oblast, where Ukrainian prisoners were being held. Propagandists claimed that at least 53 Ukrainians were dead.
• Ukraine’s Chief Intelligence Directorate believes that the killing of the Ukrainian prisoners at Olenivka was organised by the Wagner Group on the personal instructions of Yevgeny Prigozhin, without coordination with the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defence.
• The Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence, the Security Service of Ukraine and the Verkhovna Rada [Ukrainian Parliament] Human Rights Commissioner are demanding that the UN and the ICRC, which had acted as guarantors of the life and health of Ukrainian soldiers, send representatives to the prison camp.
• Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner, has asked the ICRC to organise a visit to the prison camp destroyed by the Russians in occupied Olenivka in order to inspect the bodies of dead Ukrainian prisoners and talk with injured soldiers.
• Russia’s Ministry of Defence claimed that it has invited UN and ICRC experts to the prison camp at the place where Ukrainian prisoners of war died in Olenivka.
• The families of the Ukrainian servicemen are unhappy with the international organisations’ actions, as they had received no information about their imprisoned loved ones for several months.

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