The United Nations has stated that the evidence does not corroborate Russian claims of a missile strike on a camp housing Ukrainian prisoners of war in July 2022.
In that year’s strike on an Olenivka detention facility, more than 50 Ukrainian detainees perished. The conclusions of the UN Human Rights Commissioner (OHCHR) now confirm a lengthy CNN investigation from August of last year that found the Russian claim that the camp had been struck by a Ukrainian HIMARS rocket did not hold up to scrutiny.
The strike, according to Russian and local officials from the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, was launched by the Ukrainian side using one of the HIMARS rockets that the US had recently given.
Andrey Lazarev, who works for the Zvezda media outlet of the Russian Defence Ministry, pointed to shards the morning following the explosion. One of the bits contained the serial number of a HIMARS rocket in exceptionally good condition.
According to Major General Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the Russian Defence Ministry, the detention facility was “hit by a missile attack from the American HIMARS.”
The Russian version of events is very likely a fiction, according to CNN’s research, which was based on analysis of video and pictures taken at the scene, satellite imagery taken before and after the attack, and the work of forensic and weapons specialists. The likelihood that a HIMARS rocket damaged the facility where the inmates were housed is quite low.
CNN examined experts who ruled out a HIMARS strike on Olenivka, but they were unable to determine with certainty what caused the deaths and injuries of so many detainees. According to the study, “experts say most signs point to an intense fire, and according to several witnesses there was no sound of an incoming rocket.”
In agreement, the UN stated that “the information available and our analysis enable the Office to conclude that [the strike] was not caused by a HIMARS rocket.”
“The Russian Federation neither granted general requests by the UN Human Rights Office to access areas of Ukraine that are temporarily under the military control of the Russian Federation, nor provided satisfactory guarantees about secure access for the United Nations to visit the specific site.”
The UN concurred, saying, “The information available and our analysis enable the Office to conclude that [the strike] was not caused by a HIMARS rocket.”
“Neither did the Russian Federation provide satisfactory assurances about secure access for the United Nations to visit the specific site, nor did it grant general requests by the UN Human Rights Office to access areas of Ukraine that are temporarily under the Russian Federation’s military control.”
According to the OHCHR, “extensive interviews with survivors of the incident in Olenivka were conducted, and careful analysis of supplementary information was undertaken…Although the exact details of the occurrence on the night of July 28–29, 2022, are still unknown, the Office may determine from the facts at hand and our analysis that a HIMARS rocket was not to blame.
According to the facts at hand, the OHCHR continued, “it is not currently possible to establish either the specific source of the explosion or the precise direction from which a weapon may have been fired.”
Inmates who survived and their families “deserve the truth to be known, and for those responsible for breaches of international law to be held accountable,” said Volker Türk, the UN human rights chief, on Tuesday.
“Our office has met with the victims’ relatives and listened to their cries for justice and the truth; in fact, they have a right to truth, justice, and restitution. We must do every effort to see that justice is served for all those who have been harmed by this catastrophe.