Photographic evidence shows Russian military dug graves in Olenivka ahead of attack

He published his statements on Twitter.

"@Maxar image from the Olenivka Prison where 50 PoWs were killed seems shows possible graves dug near the north wall. The possible graves appear to be open and recently dug on the 27th (2 days prior to the explosion) and covered on the 30th (1 day after)," he wrote.

According to him, the excavated graves can be another proof that the killing of Ukrainian soldiers was a pre-planned war crime.

"Of course graves can exist in PoW camps without being the precursor to a large scale war crime. The amount of possible graves, that they appear on these images to be fresh and the scale of the war crime feel connected more than a coincidence," he said.

He later found confirmation that they were dug up between July 18 and 21.

"I believe the PoWs may have been killed prior to the explosion, which was later used as a cover to blame Ukraine," he added.

Alexander Oliver found video and images from May 18 showing that POWs were housed in the main cell block away from the destroyed building.

The same claims were made by the founder of Bellingcat, Eliot Higgins, citing evidence that these graves appeared not even two days before the mass murder of Ukrainians, but more than a week.