accusations between Kiev and Moscow- Corriere.it

Explosions in the Olenivka detention center: at least 53 dead and an unknown number of injured. A rebound of guilt that provides for an investigation in both countries

“Hello. We have bad news here. Have you already heard them? ». «Yes, I felt something …». Thus begins the audio broadcast last night by the Ukrainian secret services via Telegram. A conversation – presumably between two Russian soldiers – picked up soon after the massacre of prisoners in the Olenivka detention center
nel Donetsk.

The “bad news” are the explosions in the penal colony for prisoners of war controlled by pro-Russian militias: at least 53 dead and an unknown number of wounded, all Ukrainians, except for one Russian soldier on guard. Among those prisoners some, it is not clear how many, were the men of the famous Azov battalionthose who resisted under the bombs for almost three months in the belly of the steel mill Azovstala Mariupol.

According to the Ukrainian security services, the conversation intercepted after the attack confirms the responsibility of the Russians, even if they categorically deny and – through the mouth of the head of the self-proclaimed Republic of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin – accuse Kiev of “deliberate bombing” in order to silence Azovstal’s soldiers and avoid their “testimony of the crimes committed”. A rebound of guilt that provides for an investigation in each of the two countries. But what do the two interlocutors intercepted say to each other who for Kiev are the confirmation of Russian responsibility? They speak of “190 and more prisoners moved two days earlier from three barracks” to the detention center which was set up in an “industrial area” by Olenivka. They say that the transferred are “all those from Azovstal” and, above all, they comment on how unlikely the missile hypothesis is because the window panes “didn’t shatter” as they should have, for example, and then “you didn’t hear no hiss of incoming missiles ». The call ends with comments on the hypothesis that it was the Russians (“they did it themselves”, “it’s very likely”) and with a theory: “They must have put explosives in it.” Inside, that is, in the prisoners of war cells. “Undeniable act of terrorism by the occupying armed forces” is the definition of Ukrainian intelligence reported by Ukrainska Pravda
.

The intelligence itself says it has “information available” according to which the massacre was “performed by Wagner mercenaries under the personal command of the owner Yevhen PrigozhinAnd without coordination with the Russian Defense Ministry.

The voice of the Ukrainian Foreign Minister also made itself heard about the carnage in Olenivka Dmytro Kuleba: «Chilling. It was the Russians who fired artillery shots to accuse Ukraine of committing war crimes and concealing torture and executions ”. And the president Volodymyr Zelensky: «The aim is to discredit Ukraine in front of our partners and stop the supply of weapons. It’s a deliberate mass murder. We ask for a reaction from the UN and international organizations ».

The founder and former leader of the Azov battalion, Andriy Biletsky
instead announced a “Hunting” without quarter to all those responsible, “People who do not know the concept of honor of officers and above all the observance of the Geneva Convention, of the rules, laws and customs of war”. A horror – that of Olenivka – to which another horror is added with the video circulating on Telegram channels and showing soldiers in Russian camouflage emasculating a Ukrainian prisoner of war. It’s all true? Mykhail Podolyak, advisor to President Zelensky, is convinced so and declares the film authentic. Yesterday’s attacks on Mykolaiv are true – very true, unfortunately: cluster bombs killed at least five people and injured another seven at a bus stop. Missiles (without casualties) also in the center of Kharkiv, awakened by the explosions at four in the morning.

–