Kyiv opens permanent memorial installation for Ukrainian POWs killed in Olenivka prison massacre
The permanent installation honoring the victims of Russia's terror attack in Olenivka opened on Mykhailivska Square in the capital the day before. TS/D Agency created the sculpture.
Families of the fallen soldiers, former prisoners who have returned home, fellow service members of the defenders, and Kyiv residents attended the ceremony. Participants honored the memory of the murdered Ukrainian POWs and, at the end of the event, lit flares as a symbol of remembrance, mourning, and the fight for justice.
The installation opened on the fourth anniversary of the tragedy. On the night of July 29, 2022, Russia blew up a barrack in the prison colony in occupied Olenivka, where Ukrainian prisoners of war were being held. The vast majority of them were service members of the Azov Brigade, who ended up in Russian captivity after leaving Mariupol.
The organizers stress that the memorial installation will remain permanently on Mykhailivska Square. It is meant to preserve the memory of the fallen and remind society and the international community about Ukrainian POWs who are still in Russian captivity.
Background On the morning of July 29, 2022, Russian media reported the shelling of a former penal colony in the village of Olenivka in the temporarily occupied territory of the Donetsk region. A building on its premises, where Ukrainian POWs were held, was destroyed. Propagandists claimed that at least 53 people had been killed.
Shortly before the explosion, the occupiers decided to move about 200 Azov fighters into a barrack in an industrial zone isolated from the rest of the colony's territory.
Ukrainian intelligence believes that mercenaries from the Wagner PMC organized the killing of Ukrainian prisoners in Olenivka, Donetsk region, on the personal orders of Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was still alive at the time, without coordinating it with the leadership of Russia's Ministry of Defense.
Ukraine's Security Service intercepted phone conversations in which the invaders confirmed that Russian troops were responsible for the explosion at the colony in occupied Olenivka, which killed at least 53 Ukrainian prisoners. Meanwhile, new satellite images of the colony before and after the killing of the Ukrainian soldiers were published, indicating that the building was blown up from the inside.
According to released prisoners, 193 servicemen were inside the barrack. During the pre-trial investigation, investigators identified 49 of the dead and more than 140 injured people. Three bodies remain unidentified because Russia returned them in poor condition after failing to store them properly.
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29 of July 2026
