On 28 July, Ukraine honours the memory of the defenders of Ukraine, members of volunteer formations, and civilians who were executed, tortured, or died in captivity.

Four years ago, on the night of 28–29 July 2022, the Russia committed one of the most heinous war crimes against Ukrainian prisoners of war by carrying out the mass murder of Ukraine’s defenders at the former Volnovakha Correctional Colony near the temporarily occupied settlement of Olenivka. Ukrainian service members, who, following their evacuation from the Azovstal steelworks, were entitled to protection under international humanitarian law, were deprived of the most fundamental right – the right to life.

The Olenivka atrocity was a deliberate, premeditated, and barbaric crime committed by the Russia in violation of international humanitarian law, including the provisions of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War of 12 August 1949. The mass killing of prisoners of war, torture, cruel treatment, and inhumane conditions of detention constitute grave breaches of international humanitarian law and war crimes for which those responsible must be held fully accountable.

The MFA of Ukraine calls on the international community to increase political, diplomatic, and sanctions pressure on the Russia, to ensure the full use of all available international legal mechanisms to hold those responsible accountable, and to secure unimpeded access for international humanitarian organisations to all places where Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian hostages are being held.

Ukraine also calls upon the International Criminal Court, other international judicial institutions, and competent national authorities to continue investigating crimes related to the mass murder of Ukrainian POWs in Olenivka and to ensure accountability not only for the direct perpetrators but also for those who ordered the crime or facilitated its concealment.