By Galina Korol | 2025-07-15

Dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) died in a single night. For nearly three years, Russia insisted it bore no responsibility. Now that story is falling apart.

Situated in Russian-occupied Donetsk province, Ukraine, the Volnovakha penal colony, known as Olenivka, has become one of the most infamous detention sites in Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine.

It might have remained one of many nondescript prisons in the war zone. But on the night of July 28-29, 2022, an explosion tore through the compound, killing scores of sleeping prisoners.

On June 26, Britain's Center for Human Rights in Armed Conflict (CHRAC) released a detailed investigation of what transpired, titled Barracks 200: Who Killed Ukrainian POWs in Olenivka and How.

The report draws on testimony from survivors who were eventually repatriated to Ukraine, as well as a painstaking review of open-source photos and video from the site of the explosion.

The findings point to specific weapons and munitions used by Russian forces to kill the detainees, contradicting earlier Russian claims that Ukraine was responsible for the strike.

"This is an important document that should serve as a powerful impetus to continue the investigation," Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian ombudsman, wrote on his Facebook page on June 30.

POWs at Olenivka were held in five barracks for men and one for women, say rights activists. In July 2022, Russia converted two warehouse-workshops in the industrial section to additional housing. One became known as Barracks 200. Almost 200 Ukrainian POWs, including Azov Brigade fighters who surrendered in Mariupol under a promise their lives would be spared, were held there when the explosion occurred.

"We found that [after the strike on the barracks] 54 Ukrainian soldiers died, and another 129 were wounded," Andrii Yakovlev, a lawyer specializing in international humanitarian law at the Media Initiative for Human Rights, told Kontur. His team collected evidence for submission to the International Criminal Court.

Implausible Russian tale

After the strike, Russian state media quickly blamed Ukraine, claiming a US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) missile hit the site. But that narrative does not hold up, said Yakovlev.

"First of all, there are testimonies that [after the strike] Russian troops brought in bags with HIMARS fragments and forced the survivors to scatter them around the site," he explained.

Yakovlev pointed to photos and eyewitness accounts showing the blast's characteristics did not match a HIMARS strike. "An intense thermal impact on the POWs and barracks' interior was a distinctive feature of the explosions in Barracks 200," CHRAC said in its report.

The blast likely involved thermobaric ammunition, analysts said. Though the barracks contained few flammable materials, the explosion caused "an extremely short and extremely high-temperature impact," followed by a prolonged fire -- hallmarks of that type of weapon, said CHRAC.

A coverup

From the outset, the Kremlin resisted an independent investigation, raising further suspicion of its involvement.

"Let's suppose that [Russia] didn't know who carried out this attack. Then obviously it would have been interested in giving access to the commissions so that someone could examine the site," Yakovlev said.

The United Nations (UN) fact-finding mission created to investigate the blast was disbanded five months after it began. Officially, the mission cited a lack of security guarantees. But the move may have stemmed from the UN secretary-general's political concerns, said CHRAC.

As a result, the only international body to investigate the incident was the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, which operates under the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

"The internal UN analysis concluded that it was the Russian Federation who planned and executed the attack," CHRAC said. Yet the UN never publicly blamed the Kremlin.

Questions without answers

The pain over Olenivka has not faded. Ukrainians continue to demand a full investigation and justice for those killed.

The attack appeared deliberate, Anna Lobova, co-founder of the NGO Community of Olenivka, told Kontur.

"Why did the Russians want to kill specific people in the Olenivka barracks? [They] were well aware of who they were bringing there and what was supposed to happen to them," she said, suggesting the occupants were selected from preexisting lists.

A witness recalled that Russian guards assigned POWs to Barracks 200 based on a list and even returned for one man they had initially missed.

"They took that guy there too, and he died," Lobova said.

Her husband, Oleh, was among those inside. He and his twin brother joined the Azov Brigade in 2014 and defended Mariupol during Russia's full-scale invasion. His brother was killed; Oleh was wounded just before Mariupol fell.

He was at the Azovstal steel mill when Ukraine ordered its forces to surrender, Lobova said. She learned of the Olenivka explosion from Russian news while living under occupation in Berdyansk. That night, Russian media published lists of the dead and wounded: Oleh's name appeared on both.

"We were confused and had no idea what to think," Lobova said.

Three weeks later, Lobova saw a Russian propaganda video. At minute 13, she spotted her husband in a hospital.

"He said he had a head wound and many shrapnel wounds. And his hand was bandaged," she recalled.

No progress for years

Lobova soon fled Russian-occupied territory with her six-month-old daughter, hoping to advocate more effectively for her husband's release. But progress has stalled.

"They're not trading them. We're not seeing results yet," she said, noting that very few survivors of Barracks 200 have returned to Ukraine.

Oleh recently marked his 34th birthday -- his fourth in captivity. Their daughter Maria, now a toddler, only vaguely remembers him.

Lobova last saw him a year ago in a video call staged for Russian media.

To Maria, he was an "unfamiliar voice," and she "was frightened," she said.

Now Maria asks, "Where's Daddy? When is he coming?" Lobova tells her he will be back soon, but she knows that answer will not work forever.