Yermak demands that Red Cross send mission to colony in Olenivka in coming days

Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian President's Office, has stated that the Red Cross must send a mission in the coming days to the colony in Olenivka, where Ukrainian prisoners of war are held.

He said this during a video call with representatives of the ICRC and other international organizations, according to the President’s Office.

“Head of the President's Office Andriy Yermak made a demand without alternatives to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC): in the coming days, send a mission to the colony in Olenivka in the temporarily occupied territory of the Donetsk region, where Ukrainian prisoners of war are held and where at the end of July, as a result of terrorist shelling by the Russian occupiers, more than 50 defenders of Ukraine were killed,” the President’s Office said.  

Andriy Yermak emphasized that the question of the conditions under which Ukrainian prisoners are held and what they face in places of detention in the Russian Federation and in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine is extremely important today.

"Today, in the center of Europe, unfortunately, terrible things are happening every minute and every hour, there are concentration camps again, and it is impossible to remain silent about this," he said.

The Head of the President's Office noted that he does not understand why the Red Cross mission has not yet arrived in Olenivka. He emphasized that there is no time to wait, as it is about human lives.

As reported, on the night of July 29, a powerful explosion rocked a building of former penal colony No. 210 in Olenivka in the temporary occupied territory of Donetsk region, where Ukrainian prisoners of war were held. According to the Russian side, the explosion killed about 50 Ukrainian defenders and seriously injured more than 70.

Photo: President's Office