Yermak issues an "ultimatum" to the Red Cross: demands to visit Olenivka
KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO — THURSDAY, 13 OCTOBER 2022 20:46
Andrii Yermak, the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, made an "absolute demand" to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to send a mission within three days to the prison camp in the occupied Olenivka, where Ukrainian prisoners are held.
Source: Yermak on Telegram
Quote: "Today we gave the International Committee of the Red Cross three days to send a mission to the penal colony in Olenivka, where Ukrainian prisoners of war are being held. I made this an uncontested demand."
"Otherwise, Ukraine will use all possible informational and diplomatic means to move this issue forward. Together with our partners, we will be able to find a way to form an expert group and people who will be ready to fulfil the mission that the Red Cross should fulfil."
Details: Yermak reported that the killing of Ukrainian prisoners in Olenivka at the end of July was discussed on Thursday during a video conference with representatives of the ICRC and other international organisations.
Quote: "I do not understand why the Red Cross mission has not yet arrived in Olenivka during this entire period. There is no time to wait because human lives are at stake. Therefore, we call for the Red Cross mission with representatives of the international media to arrive in Ukraine within three days, even if no confirmation is received from Russia by that time. And we are sure that Russia is not interested in the truth being known. We call for a mission to be sent to the front line until Russia issues these permits.
We call to resolve this issue and send the ICRC mission by 17 October. Ukraine, for its part, will contribute to this mission in every possible way. We are ready to get involved in this. Our MPs are ready to go there. Our esteemed partners – representatives of the countries that are with us today, I am sure, are also ready to help today so that the leading channels and mass media arrive. As it happens, for example, when the IAEA mission arrives."
Background:
- On 29 July, the Russian media reported on the shelling of the colony in Olenivka, Donetsk Oblast, where Ukrainian prisoners were held. Propagandists claimed that there were at least 53 dead.
- The General Staff Of Ukraine denied the accusations of the Russian Federation that the attack was carried out by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to the General Staff, the Russians tried to hide the torture and murder of prisoners.
- Intelligence believes that the killing of Ukrainian prisoners in Olenivka, Donetsk Oblast, was organised by the Wagner Group [a Russian private military company] on the personal instructions of Yevgeny Prigozhin, without coordination with the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
- The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has intercepted telephone conversations in which the occupiers confirm that Russian troops were responsible for the explosion in the occupied Olenivka colony. Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin stated that, according to preliminary data of international experts, prisoners in the occupied Olenivka colony could have been killed with thermobaric weapons
- At the beginning of September, the UN stated that Russia does not provide access to Ukrainian prisoners of war, and at the beginning of October, the UN stated that their mission cannot go to the territory of the detention centre in Olenivka due to the lack of security guarantees.
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