Olenivka POW camp investigation: Q&A with the War Crimes Investigation Unit (Patreon)

Dear Kyiv Independent community members,

We are thrilled to announce an exclusive community event centered around the upcoming documentary by our War Crimes Investigations Unit. We invite you to join our upcoming community event on Dec. 7: a Q&A with the documentary’s author and head of the unit, Yevheniia Motorevska, war crimes reporter Danylo Mokryk, and editor-in-chief Olga Rudenko. The Q&A will be a platform for our community members to share their thoughts, insights, and questions about the film.

To ensure everyone has the opportunity to participate actively in the discussion, we will send everyone the link to the documentary on Nov. 28, its release date. You will have a week to watch the documentary and prepare your questions. Register for the event and submit your questions in advance here.

In March 2023, the Kyiv Independent established a War Crimes Investigations Unit to produce documentaries about Russian war crimes in Ukraine. On Nov. 28, we are releasing our third documentary about Russia’s misconduct toward Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians held captive in the Olenivka prison.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russia has used the Olenivka prison, located in Russian-occupied Donetsk Oblast, as a camp for Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian hostages from Mariupol. Thousands of Ukrainians, including service people from the Azov Brigade, have been held captive in its cells. Those who returned from captivity spoke about the inhumane conditions of their detention, including hunger and torture.

For six months, the Kyiv Independent worked to recreate a picture of the events that took place at Olenivka. Our journalists recorded dozens of interviews with the service people and civilians who witnessed gross violations of international law. However, some of these people remain anonymous for security reasons.

Step by step, the Kyiv Independent collected information about the functioning of the prison, as well as its guards, managers, and supervisors from Russia. In the end, they were able to identify those who were involved in the systematic abuse of the defenders of Mariupol. The Kyiv Independent’s War Crimes Investigations Unit will name these war criminals in the new film.

The Kyiv Independent’s investigative documentary also tells the stories of six Ukrainians who were held captive in Olenivka, including military medic Mariana Mamonova, who was held captive until the ninth month of her pregnancy.

The event is scheduled for Dec. 7 at 8pm Kyiv time. Register for the event and submit your questions here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_fPVVxbq5RmumcvAfQX21EQ