On August 3rd, at 7PM, members of the Ukrainian community and other members of Cluj, gathered in the centre of Cluj-Napoca to condemn some of the latest actions reported to have been carried out at the hands of Russia.

The organisers of the event declared the main statement of the rally, “as Ukrainians refugees in Cluj Napoca, we demand that Russia is recognised as a state sponsor of terrorism, which does not abide by the Geneva Conventions and violates all the rules of warfare.

We demand that the UN and the ICRC, which guaranteed the safety of Ukrainian prisoners of war, immediately respond to the terrorist act committed by Russia and send their representatives to the PoW camp in the village of Olenivka on 29th July in the temporarily occupied territory of Donetsk Oblast as an inspection mission to find out the circumstances of the tragedy, the state of health of the injured and other prisoners of war, and to facilitate the transfer of the bodies of the killed prisoners of war to the Ukrainian side.”

Following the event, Julia Holovko, a Ukranian refugee in Cluj-Napoca said, that in her opinion, this rally was one of the biggest official events organized by Ukrainians in Cluj since the beginning of the war – more than 100 people came with their families, children and friends to share their position against cruel terrorism act to Azovstal diffenders in Olenivka, where they were held in Russian captivity. According to an official statement provided by the Ukrainian government, more than 40 POWs died and many others were injured. We wanted people in Cluj to learn more about this unprecedented attack and be aware of how Russia treats POWs. Similar rallies were held in all major cities worldwide, where all the people could join to put pressure on official authorities to arm Ukraine and help win this war.