Ukraine condemns Russia’s ‘humiliating death’ tweet after jail attack

• The Russian embassy in the UK tweeted that Ukrainian Azov battalion members deserved a “humiliating death” by hanging.
• The embassy post came after Russia killed more than 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs), including Azov servicemen.
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• The tweet featured a video footage of a couple in a burned-out structure accusing Azov troops of shelling their home.

Ukraine has declared Russia a “terrorist state” after the Russian embassy in the United Kingdom tweeted that Ukrainian Azov battalion members deserved a “humiliating death” by hanging.

The embassy post came after Russia killed more than 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs), including Azov servicemen.

They were killed in an attack on the Olenivka prison in Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine and Russia each blame one other for the attack on Friday.

Twitter recognised that the message from the Russian embassy broke the social media company’s “rules about hateful behaviour,” but noted that keeping it available may be in the public interest.

Aside from the Ukrainian government, many other Twitter users expressed their outrage at the remark.

The Russian-backed self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic controls the Olenivka detention camp (DNR).

What happened on Friday is still unknown. Unverified Russian video footage of the aftermath depicts a tangle of shattered bunk beds and horribly burnt victims.

Following the incident, the Russian embassy in the United Kingdom tweeted that Azov “deserves punishment, but not by firing squad, but by hanging, because they’re not real warriors; they deserve a humiliating death.”

The tweet featured a video footage of a couple in a burned-out structure accusing Azov troops of shelling their home. The embassy’s plea for execution echoes the words of the individual in the video.

Azov forces were forced to lay down their arms in May after valiantly defending Azovstal, a massive steelworks in Mariupol’s south-eastern harbour that was subsequently taken by Russia.

When the Azov Regiment was formed in 2014, it was a nationalist group with far-right ties. It was later absorbed into the Ukrainian National Guard.

Russia has long accused the regiment of being neo-Nazis and war criminals, as part of a propaganda campaign to legitimise the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, stated on Telegram that “Russia is a terrorist country.”

Ukraine has requested that the United Nations and Red Cross conduct an investigation into the murders at Olenivka.

Ukraine claims Russia targeted the site in an attempt to remove evidence of torture and murder. The incident was labelled as a “deliberate Russian war crime” by President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s foreign ministry, tweeted: “There is no difference between Russian diplomats asking for the execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war and Russian military carrying it out in Olenivka.”

“They are all complicit in these war crimes and must face justice.”

The strike killed 53 people and injured 75, according to DNR spokesman Daniil Bezsonov. He described it as a “direct hit on a jail barracks.”

The strike was carried out by US-made Himars artillery, according to Russia’s defence ministry, and Ukraine was accused of a “deliberately perpetrated” provocation. The ministry displayed remnants of rockets fired by the Himars system.

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