Territory of Terror, Lviv, Ukraine

28 July - August 2025

National Mourning Day for Olenivka Massacre Victims

In Ukraine, 28 July 2025 marked the inaugural Day of Mourning and Remembrance for Defenders of Ukraine who died in Russian captivity. The day was chosen because it is also the anniversary of the 2022 Russian strike on the Olenivka detention facility, where over 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war, most of them members of the Azov battalion, were killed and over 100 POWs were injured. These soldiers defended Mariupol and only surrendered when they received the order to do so by the Ukrainian General Staff on 16 May.

On 29 July 2022, the Russian Embassy to the United Kingdom twitted: "#Azov militants deserve execution, but death not by firing squad but by hanging, because they’re not real soldiers. They deserve a humiliating death."

The commemoration also marked the opening of the exhibition of children's paintings. The children are from Ukrainian military families and they have experienced loss of their homes. Some of them lost a parent, either a fallen soldier or a soldier held captive. The exhibition is about memory, hope, and love.

Since 2022, over 200 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in Russian prisons, over 270 soldiers were summarily executed on the battlefield after surrendering.

Opening ceremony and commemoration day. 28 July