My name is Ksenia. My brother Ihor died in the terrible act of violence in the Volnovakha prison camp No120 in the village of Olenivka in Donetsk region.

Our whole family has always lived in the city of Melitopol, now temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation troops. It is the city Ihor loved for all of his life. He shared this love with our house, once built by our grandfather, so badly in need of repair. It used to be my brother’s dream – to get the house into shape. He never wished for war, moreover, I would say they were two incompatibles, Ihor and war. Yet, he loved his city and his motherland, so when the time came for him to make a choice, after finishing his compulsory military service, he chose to continue his service in the Azov regiment.

***

Azov as a family

On January 18, 2022, after the New Year’s holiday festivities, my brother left for the city of Urzuf for training, actually starting his service in Azov.

Ihor was really excited with the attitude from his senior sworn brothers, as they welcomed him and the other newcomers, like brothers, in their fellowship so compassionately. The senior Azovians talked with the newly arrived, explaining them everything and being like true elder brothers. I know for sure that he really respected his officers, and I had never heard anything wrong from him concerning commanders and sworn brothers-in-arms at all.

On that terrible morning, February 24, 2022, we could not get in touch with my brother. We could only guess then that he was located in the city of Mariupol, as the violent fight for the city had already begun. Later on, he made a call, though never telling much of what was then going on in the city, and what conditions his comrades-in-arms and himself were in. He never complained about the shortage of food and water and the impossibility to treat all the wounded ones. All the nightmares that were then happening at the AzovStal – we all got to know them from the news.

Instead, Ihor was really worried about our parents and his younger brother, staying in the city of Melitopol, already occupied, always asking if they had anything to eat. As he was talking to our parents, he would keep on encouraging them every time. And with, he was more sincere, saying that with his every flight to AzovStal he never knew if he would ever exit. Still, he believed that there would be a blockade lifting, and our soldiers would help them go out of the factory. Or that there would be an agreement for them to leave the site, saving their lives. Ihor was really determined not to exit to become a captive, saying he would rather blow himself up with a grenade than surrender to Ruscists.

Release into captivity

On May 16, 2022 we saw Redis’ appeal (lieutenant colonel of the Azov regiment) and we realized that the garrison of Mariupol was leaving the AzovStal facility, exiting as prisoners of war to the RF. We were not quite sure then if Ihor had left with everybody else, as he had not phoned us, neither before their going out from the AzovStal or during the event. We had had a talk on April 21. Our family watched all the videos published by the Russians for the public access, without noticing him in any of those.

On the day when the recovery to captivity started, we were waiting intensely for the evening speech by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. As he was delivering his speech, he stressed on the fact that it was precisely a case of recovery to captivity, and the boys were exiting from the factory under warranties given by international organizations, namely the UNO and IRC. That gave us a hope to meet our dear Ihor soon.

Morning of July 29, 2022

I remember the morning on July 29, 2022 – it was a morning I will never be able to forget. The act of violence that happened in the village of Olenivka, it was something that could not be imagined before it really happened. Yes, I did realize that life was not a bed of roses for our captive boys, true; but to be murdered in such a villainous and terrible way, unarmed and sleeping…it was the height of cynicism. And now I understand that those photos and videos we watched on the morning of July 29, I will envision them for all my life.

I just could not believe in what had happened. My family and I, we were shocked and frozen. At that time we did not know for sure if Ihor was staying in that “Barrack 200” and what struggle for justice was awaiting for us.

On July 30, 2022, early in the morning I saw lists of the dead and wounded in the act of violence in Olenivka, as compiled by Rascists, already available in all Telegram publics. And I saw my brother’s name in there. I just cannot describe the emotions I felt at that moment. I had both panic and no clear vision what was to be done next, whom to contact. We addressed everywhere – the coordination headquarters, the military unit, the Azov executive support service, the Red Cross, the National Information Bureau and to other authorities. We were told everywhere to wait for more accurate information, and we would be informed. They told us not to trust the dishonest Ruscists’ lists. At that time, I could not even imagine how long we would have to wait for the DNA results just to learn if Ihor is alive or not.

All the time since then we lived in hope. Hoping that Ihor is alive. Hoping that our country will carry out a rightful investigation involving international experts. Hoping we would not get forgotten. That the act of violence will be recognized as such internationally.

Life in chat

On October 10, 2022 the bodies were returned from Olenivka. All the relatives of the probable fatal casualties were united by the Azov executive support service into a separate chat. As we were informed, our country officials do not act based on the lists of casualties from the RF; instead, the military unit compiled their own one, based on evidence from those returning from captivity. Based on this principle we were added to the chat.

We waited for a couple of months for the results of the DNA expertise in silence. We were explained that it was not going to be a fast process, as Ukraine involves international experts for analyzing the corpses returned from Olenivka.

As António Guterres dismissed the mission on investigating the murder of Ukrainian captives in Olenivka, back on January 5, 2023, we realized that we had to unite among the families of the affected in the act of violence and support the investigation by ourselves.

Throughout the time our community has existed, we have managed to achieve some public disclosure, and our activity is giving some results. Early in April, a delegation from our community visited the offices of the UNO and IRC in Geneva. What I was really astonished with was that Ukraine did not actually invite any international from the UNO and the Red Cross for investigating the bodies returned after the act of violence in Olenivka. All this time we had been silent, being sure that our state had been doing all they could do to investigate the tragedy in a proper way, and then it turned out that nobody but relatives was interested indeed.

We still have a lot of things to do: to attain returning of the military captives wounded in the act of violence, to attain for the act to be officially acknowledged as such and – for Olenivka not to be forgotten by those to have given the order to exit to captivity under warranties. I insist on fair investigation of this tragedy.

Our expectations for Ihor to be alive after the act of violence never came true. We had been waiting for the DNA results for a very long time, with my mom phoning to the case officer and the Azov executive support service, at least twice a week – and we had no confirmation with the expertise results. And then, on May 23, 2023 (which was more than half a year after the bodies were returned), my mom got a call from the executive support service, and it was this: “When are you going to receive the body for funeral? You have had two DNA confirmations already.”

***

Defenders of Mariupol are true warriors, desperately committed to defending the city of Mariupol in total entrapment for 86 days. Ever since the first day of the full-scale invasion by the Russian Federation, Mariupol’s defenders proved to the whole world their incredible courage, will power and their fighting spirit for freedom. Due to the city defense, Ukraine was able to receive arms from the partner countries, regroup troops in other direction and consequently regain the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia. They fought the enemy’s overwhelming forces, having not enough ammunition, food, water and sleep. During the period from May 16 to May 20, Mariupol’s defenders laid down their weapon at the AzovStal plant and exited to captivity by the order from the senior Ukraine’s authorities.

Defenders of Mariupol. Stories of the Invincible Ones – is a common project by Infopost.media a and  Olenivka Families Community, a community uniting the captives’ families, the injured and killed during the act of terror in Olenivka on the night of July 28 to 29^th, 2022.

“Olenivka Families Community” was launched in January 2023, after the UNO General Secretary dismissed the mission on investigating murder occurrences among captives of war in Olenivka. The community enrolls over 100 people. A delegation from the Olenivka Families have already visited Geneva, meeting representatives from the UNO and International Red Cross at their headquarters.

Currently we would like to receive more communication with foreign journalists, performing live for audiences abroad, since the subject of the act of terror in Olenivka is only known a little abroad. We are eager to share our witness with journalistic investigations, human rights advocacies and to have cooperation with OSINT-communities. We want to call to account the guilty ones in the international field.

Find us in the social media:
https://linktr.ee/olenivkafamilies 

🇺🇦 Ця публікація доступна також українською мовою: “Коли будете забирати тіло? У вас було два збіги”. Історія Ігора, захисника з Азовсталі

🇭🇺 Ez a kiadvány magyar nyelven is elérhető: “Mikor fogják elvinni a holttestet? Két DNS egybeesés volt.” Igor, az Azovstal védőjének története

🇸🇰 Text v slovenčine: „Kedy si zoberiete telo? Mali ste už dve zhody.“ Príbeh Igora – obrancu z Azovstale

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