"Let's go": Attack on prison camps and fighting in Donbass - Zelenskyy appeals to the population

Created: 07/31/2022, 09:54

By: Astrid Theil

After the attack on the prison camp in Olenivka, Zelenskyj calls on the UN and the Red Cross to act.

News ticker on military events in the Ukraine war.

• Attack

  on

  prison camps

  : Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeals to the UN and the Red Cross

• Fighting

  in

  Donbass

  : Zelenskyj calls on residents to leave Donetsk

• This

  news ticker

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  military events

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First report from July 31:

Olenivka/Donetsk – After the attack on a prisoner of war in eastern Ukraine that left dozens dead, Ukraine called on the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to conduct an investigation.

Attack on prison camps: Volodymyr Zelenskyj appeals to the UN and the Red Cross

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to both organizations: "You must protect the lives of hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners of war." Ukraine and Russia blame each other for the attack on the detention center in Olenivka in eastern Ukraine occupied by pro-Russian separatists.

The information could not be checked independently.

Many fighters from the Ukrainian Azov regiment, which surrendered in May, were in the prison.

According to Selenskyj, more than 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed in the attack on Friday, Moscow spoke of 50 dead and 73 seriously injured on Saturday.

Selenskyj called the shelling of the detention center a "premeditated mass murder of Ukrainian prisoners of war".

Azov regiment interim commander Mykyta Nadtochy said in a video message on Saturday that the regiment viewed the attack as a "public execution with impunity by Russia."

Russia, on the other hand, spoke on Friday of hitting Kyiv with US-supplied missiles to deter Ukrainian soldiers from surrendering to Russia. 

Fighting in Donbass: Zelenskyj calls on residents to leave Donetsk

In addition, in view of the massive attacks by the Russian army in the east of the country, Zelenskyy called on people to leave the Donetsk region.

"There are hundreds of thousands of people in Donbass, tens of thousands of children, many refuse to leave," he said.

He urged residents of Donbass to make this decision.

The President complained that many citizens are still not insightful.

"Go ahead, we'll help," he said. 

Previously, the Ukrainian government had ordered a mandatory evacuation on the grounds that the citizens had to get to safety in good time before the start of the heating season, as the gas pipelines had been destroyed by the war in the Donetsk region.

Zelenskyj now emphasized that everything is being organized for people to flee from the areas of the region still controlled by Ukraine.