Explosion in Olenivka caused by thermobaric grenade launcher – Prosecutor General’s Office

A year ago, an explosion in the former correctional facility, which was situated in the Donetsk region’s temporarily occupied urban-type settlement of Olenivka, where Russian invaders had been keeping Ukrainian prisoners of war, was caused by the use of a rocket thermobaric grenade launcher.

The relevant statement was made by the Information Policy Department at the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Following Russia’s overnight terrorist attack on July 29, 2022, the Prosecutor General’s Office recorded the fact of the shelling of the former correctional facility in the Donetsk region’s Olenivka by Russian soldiers in the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations as the one bearing the signs of the criminal offence in accordance with Part 2, Art. 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the laws and customs of war). This refers to the cruel treatment of prisoners of war or civilians, combined with intentional murder.

The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by the Main Investigative Department of the Security Service of Ukraine.

In the course of the pre-trial investigation, a comprehensive examination of the weapons, traces and circumstances of their use was conducted. According to the expert opinion, the explosion was caused by the use of a rocket thermobaric grenade launcher.

Following the forensic molecular and genetic analysis, a total of 33 bodies of those who were killed in the Olenivka correctional facility on the night of July 29, 2022 were identified. They were brought back to the Ukrainian-controlled territory. At the moment, 24 more bodies of those who might have been in that correctional facility are undergoing relevant examination procedures.

Thirteen Ukrainian servicemen, who were released from Russian captivity and who had been kept in one of premises in the Olenivka correctional facility, were questioned as victims.

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