Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Kyiv honored the victims of the Olenivka prison massacre on the fourth anniversary of one of the deadliest war crimes of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
On the night of July 28–29, 2022, a powerful explosion tore through Barrack No. 200 at a former penal colony in Russian-occupied Olenivka, Donetsk region, where Ukrainian POWs were being held. Most were defenders of Mariupol and Azovstal who had surrendered under international guarantees just weeks earlier.
At least 53 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed, and more than 130 were wounded.
Survivors later testified that the prisoners had been moved to a separate barrack shortly before the explosion. Many of the wounded were left without medical treatment for hours. Russia immediately blamed Ukraine for the attack but refused to grant independent international investigators full access to the site.
Kyiv honored the victims of the Olenivka prison massacre on the fourth anniversary of one of the deadliest war crimes of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
On the night of July 28–29, 2022, a powerful explosion tore through Barrack No. 200 at a former penal colony in Russian-occupied Olenivka, Donetsk region, where Ukrainian POWs were being held. Most were defenders of Mariupol and Azovstal who had surrendered under international guarantees just weeks earlier.
At least 53 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed, and more than 130 were wounded.
Survivors later testified that the prisoners had been moved to a separate barrack shortly before the explosion. Many of the wounded were left without medical treatment for hours. Russia immediately blamed Ukraine for the attack but refused to grant independent international investigators full access to the site.
