Half a year since atrocity in Olenivka, still no international outcry – Ukrainian human rights Ombudsman

Ukraine did not receive the reaction it expected from the international community in the wake of the Russian atrocity, but will continue to investigate the crime, Lubinets told NV.

The Ukrainian military’s General Staff reported on July 29, 2022 that Russia had struck a prison in occupied Olenivka with a thermobaric bomb, in a “false flag” attack on one of its own prisoner of war camps.

Read also: Russia shells Olenivka prison camp again

The General Staff said Russia had carried out the attack in order to accuse Ukraine of committing war crimes, as well as to cover up the torture of prisoners, and extra-judicial executions that were carried out on the orders of the occupation administration and command in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast.

Lubinets said Russia’s involvement in the incident had been confirmed by the conclusions of experts – in particular that an explosion had taken place inside one of the prison buildings, and that the attack was caused by a thermobaric weapon.

Read also: Red Cross still has no access to Ukrainian prisoners in Russia, Lubynets says

“On the other hand, Ukraine has not received the expected reaction from the international community — no progress has been made in the investigation, and no one has even managed to gain access to the scene of the tragedy,” the Ombudsman said.

“I have repeatedly publicly emphasized that I am ready to go to the scene of the tragedy so that we all learn the truth. The truth, which we already know,” said Lubinets.

He said that the International Committee of the Red Cross had failed to react properly to the incident, and the position of the United Nations still “remains unclear.”

Read also: Russia bars Red Cross from Olenivka