Former head of a penal colony where Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed confirmed dead
The head of the Donetsk “republic” Denis Pushilin announced the detention of a man allegedly involved in the 9 December car blast in the Donetsk city centre, Moscow-controlled Donetsk News Agency (DAN) reported.
According to Pushylin, “a citizen of the Russian Federation involved in the murder of a Russian officer in Donetsk in a generally dangerous manner has been detained”. The detainee allegedly acted on the instructions of the Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate.
The report states that the explosive device was placed under the car on the driver’s side in the evening and detonated remotely. At the time of the explosion, in addition to the driver, his wife was in the car and “sustained severe injuries”.
Footage of the explosion of Yevsyukov’s car and the detention of the man who allegedly planted the explosives, source: FSB of Russia
The explosion on Universitetska Street in Donetsk took place on the morning of 9 December.
Russian news agencies and bloggers reported it immediately but gave conflicting details. Some wrote that the driver of the car was killed, while others claimed only that he and his wife had been taken away by an ambulance. Some reported that the driver lost his leg in the explosion, while others claimed that his wife’s leg was blown off.
Video by Russian RIA Novosti from the scene on 9 December
Later, Russian bloggers also reported that the car’s driver was Serhiy Yevsiukov, whom they called the head of the colony in Olenivka, Donetsk region.
On the same day, the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service in Donetsk denied the death of its employee. “We inform you that the deceased did not serve in the institutions and bodies of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service in the Donetsk People’s Republic,” the statement said.
There were no more “official” reports of the incident in Donetsk until the announcement made by Pushilin on Sunday, 15 December.
Serhiy Yevsiukov probably indeed did not serve in the Russian penitentiary service. He was dismissed from his position as the head of the colony in the summer of 2022, about two months before Russia annexed the occupied part of the Donetsk region.
By that time, Yevsiukov had already been known for torturing Ukrainian prisoners of war held in the colony. His release was immediately preceded by explosions in a barracks with prisoners of war, which, according to Russian data, killed 53 and injured 75 Ukrainian prisoners of war.
According to the survivors who later returned to Ukraine as part of a prisoner exchange, Yevsiukov knew in advance about the explosions, presumably from thermobaric weapons.
Only the barracks, where prisoners of war from the Azov Special Forces Detachment of the National Guard of Ukraine, who had defended Mariupol, had been transferred to the day before, was damaged.
Witnesses claimed that the colony management calmly watched the prisoners’ attempts to rescue their wounded comrades without providing any assistance. The seriously wounded were eventually transported to hospitals by trucks. According to witness accounts, some died also on the way to hospitals.
Serhiy Yevsiukov worked in the Donetsk region in the internal affairs bodies. After 2014, he remained in the occupied territory. He became the head of the colony in early 2022.