On July 29, the authorities of the “DPR” reported that Ukraine had hit a prison in Yelenovka in the Donetsk region, where Ukrainian prisoners were kept, as a result, 53 people were killed and another 130 were injured. The Armed Forces of Ukraine claim that the strike was carried out by the Russian military in order to accuse Ukraine of war crimes and to hide the torture and execution of Ukrainian prisoners. The Insider found out that the propagandists reported on the preparation of a “provocation” back in June, and the industrial zone that was hit was empty almost until the shelling. However, a few days before that, hangars were set up there and the Azov fighters were placed in them, which, as it turned out, no one was going to exchange.

In two days, the prisoners of "Azov" were transferred there

Vitaly Sitnikov, a 34-year-old volunteer from Mariupol, who himself spent more than three months in a prison in Yelenovka, said that no prisoners were kept in the industrial zone where the shells hit. He spoke about this on the air of the Khodorkovsky Live YouTube channel. The colony was empty for almost eight years, but during the war it was used as a prison for prisoners. According to Sitnikov, it is a huge territory: about six barracks, a building and an industrial zone. Around the fenced area of ​​the colony there was always a lot of Russian and "DPR" equipment, the volunteer emphasizes.

According to him, during the entire 100 days he was held captive by Russian-controlled militants of the “DPR”, the prisoners were kept in barracks.

“The industrial zone was empty. She was basically abandoned. But already today there were rumors that two days before they began to transfer the prisoners of "Azov" there, supposedly before departure somewhere further. As far as I understand, beds were placed in some ordinary hangars, perhaps some objectionable people were transferred in order to commit this act.”

Sitnikov repeatedly heard from the guards in the colony that no one “is going to” exchange the captured Azov fighters for the Russian military. According to him, they were only going to be imprisoned for periods of 10-15 years. According to him, the guards discussed this among themselves and spoke to the “Azovites” themselves during the beatings.

“When they were beaten (and they were beaten very often), they told them directly: “This will continue for a long time, get used to it.” They said that they would not submit them for an exchange.

Also, during the impact, only those buildings were destroyed, in which they do not contain prisoners in the main time. Russia would not destroy the barracks, which will still contain prisoners, said Sitnikov. The volunteer suggested that it would be easier to put abandoned, useless hangars with beds in the industrial zone, supposedly they would keep prisoners there, and destroy them. “It’s not a fact that there was even a shell,” he explains.

According to him, there were many civilians in this prison who had never even served in the army, like Sitnikov himself. He ended up in a colony when he was riding in a volunteer bus with humanitarian aid, but they were detained on suspicion of “terrorism”, suggesting that they were “helping Azov”. Sitnikov said that he did not understand why he was released, since he saw everything that was happening in the colony and was, in fact, a witness to torture. The volunteer told how one of the Azov fighters, after three days of beatings, cut his veins, after which his body was carried out without hiding it in any way, and a ritual service was called. Sitnikov suggested that this was due to the hype in the media or "some kind of flaw."

Until mid-May, the colony was guarded by the "DPR", and then the Russian flag was raised on the territory, the Russian military, special forces appeared, the entire territory of the colony was surrounded by military equipment. Gradually, all the employees of the colony became Russian, only the guards from the “DPR” remained in the most strict building. The prisoners, who were taken out of the territory of the colony, saw that they were guarded by a lot of special forces. Also, fighter jets constantly flew over the territory of the colony, and the equipment standing behind the territory fired towards Ukraine, Sitnikov claims. At the same time, there was only one retaliatory strike from Ukraine, when a Howitzer was “smashed” near the colony. Once a shell landed on the very territory of the colony, then no one was hurt. According to Sitnikov, it could be a Russian projectile, which was launched by mistake due to "gouging". Ukraine, realizing that its prisoners are there, would not shoot, the volunteer concluded.

"Hypan on the Darkness of Buchi"

As early as June 5, the Telegram channel Nezygar reported , referring to some data from the British intelligence Mi-6, that one of the options for using the Western MLRS supplied to Ukraine is the “camp in Yelenovka”, where captured Azovstal fighters and military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are located. The author of an anonymous channel claimed that the Armed Forces of Ukraine would carry out strikes "under the control of the British Ministry of Defense."

“They will execute all the Armed Forces of Ukraine under the full control of the officers of the British Ministry of Defense, as was the case with the attack on the cruiser Moscow.”

The publication noted that the British want to frame the strike of the MLRS "as an attempt by the RF Armed Forces to hide the execution and torture of prisoners," and then "hype on Bucha's temnik."

Nezygar also claimed that the target was the Crimean bridge, but this is “the most unlikely operation”, and the center of Sevastopol or the base of the Black Sea Fleet.

"irrefutable evidence" RIA Novosti

The propaganda agency RIA Novosti, in addition to broadcasting the version of the Ministry of Defense, published a video on the day of the strike, which supposedly should prove that the strike was carried out by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The agency believes that the fragments of the HIMARS MLRS lying on the bench (which could have been brought from the site of any of the strikes) confirm the official position of Russia.

In another publication, RIA Novosti cites a message from the Ministry of Defense:

“Tonight, the Ukrainian security forces fired HIMARS rockets at the pre-trial detention center near Yelenovka in the Donbass, where Ukrainian military prisoners of war, including militants of the Azov formation, are being held.

At present, a large number of Ukrainian servicemen voluntarily lay down their arms, knowing about the humane attitude towards prisoners of war on the Russian side. This egregious provocation was committed to intimidate Ukrainian servicemen and prevent them from being taken prisoner. The circumstances of this provocation are being investigated.”

What exactly the Ministry of Defense means by "humane treatment" is unknown. However, the day before, a video of the torture of a Ukrainian prisoner appeared on the network, allegedly filmed on the territory of the Azot plant, seized by Russian troops in June. In the video, according to various sources, there is a fighter from "Akhmat" or the volunteer battalion "North", which was formed in Chechnya. In the footage, a fighter cuts off the genitals of a bound soldier lying on the ground with a clerical knife. When he tries to resist, they kick him in the head and hold him so that he does not twitch. Later, the fighter who took part in the torture was identified on the video of RIA Novosti, he appeared in the same cowboy hat in one of the reports of the propaganda agency.

Also, the information about the “humane treatment” from the message of the Ministry of Defense does not coincide with the statements of the Russian military, who are held in custody in Bryanka, Luhansk region, beaten and forced to return to the front after refusing to fight in Ukraine. Soldiers of PMC Wagner and representatives of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation - the deputy head of the 51st Air Defense Division (military unit 42352) for military-political work, Colonel Oleg Nechiporenko and a certain Lieutenant Colonel Sergey Yuryevich Tumanov "break" people.

The international human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) also reported about torture, abductions and murders of civilians and prisoners of war in Ukraine. She published a report on the war crimes of the Russian army in the occupied territories: dozens of people from Kherson, Melitopol, Berdyansk, Skadovsk and ten other cities confirmed to human rights activists the facts of torture, as well as the possible involvement of the military in the disappearance of civilians.