The Ukrainian General Staff stated that Russia was using the Olenivka prison attack to hide the tortures and murders of prisoners.

Russians were trying to hide the tortures and murders of prisoners by this attack

The explosions were not caused by HIMARS rockets launched by Ukrainian armed forces. The degree of damages to the walls, ceiling, roof and windows of the barracks, the condition of the bunk beds inside, the size of the residual crater, and the impact radius are not characteristic of impacts by HIMARS ammunition.

In a particularly deadly incident, over 50 Ukrainian military prisoners were killed in the Russian-occupied Olenivka in Donetsk Oblast in July 2022. According to Kyiv, Russia likely blew up the prison with a thermobaric munition

Immediately after the explosion in the barrack, Russia accused Ukraine of a targeted strike allegedly involving a HIMARS missile