Russian propaganda media have reported that the colony in Olenivka has come under fire again. As a result, one Ukrainian prisoner of war was killed and four were wounded, Ukrainian parliament commissioner for human rights Dmytro Lubinets has said.
"At the moment, we have not received information about the names of the victims, but we are making enquiries about this both directly - to Mrs Moskalkova and through the UN and ICRC. I, as the ombudsman, am still prepared to travel to Olenivka personally to assess all the facts and communicate with witnesses of the shelling, the wounded and the detained citizens," Lubinets said.
He added that "no-one is surprised any more that no representative of the occupiers was injured, while the Russian Federation again blamed Ukraine for the shelling".
The ombudsman noted that he did not know the motives behind the shelling of the POW camps.
"Perhaps it is banal revenge because of defeats at the front, or perhaps it is purposeful terror and demonstrative impunity of the Russian military leadership," Lubinets said.
He noted that there are several consequences of such actions.
First of all, it postpones a visit by the UN fact-finding mission to Olenevka because of the security risks. The ombudsman added that "a complete ban of such a visit by Russia is also possible".
This also causes additional suffering for relatives of Ukrainian prisoners of war held in Olenivka. The relatives cannot get verified information about the dead and wounded.
Lubinets also considers the shelling as pressure on the Ukrainian side to "obtain concessions on the dismissal of Russian servicemen who committed war crimes on Ukrainian territory and to resolve the issue of ammonia transit through Ukraine".
"Such actions by the Russian Federation only make one simple fact clear for the world - 'Russia is a terrorist state'. And this state seeks to achieve its geopolitical goals not by democratic means through negotiations, but by using weapons and terror. And the task of the democratic world is simply to stop it. Once and for all," the ombudsman stressed.
It was recently reported that the colony in the temporarily occupied town of Olenivka in Donetsk Region has improved living conditions for prisoners of war ahead of the expected visit of the UN mission.