Russia Holds 28 Thousand Ukrainian Civilians Captive

Two thousand of them are over 65 years old.

Russia is holding captive 28 thousand Ukrainian civilians, nothing is known about their condition, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Commissioner for Human Rights Dmitry Lubinets said at the international human rights conference “Freedom or Fear” on the evening of Thursday, December 7, writes Deutsche Welle.

He called the holding of “civilian hostages” a new system for suppressing civilian resistance in the occupied territories of Ukraine. “As of today, 28 thousand citizens of Ukraine are in captivity of the Russian Federation. We cannot check their condition, we cannot access Russian prisons, we cannot transfer medicine. And once again we appeal to the international community: help us protect our citizens, help us bring them back!” called Lubinets.

According to the Ukrainian Ombudsman, among those held captive by the Russians are 2,000 Ukrainians over the age of 65. There were cases when people over 80 were taken prisoner only for pro-Ukrainian statements, Lubinets said.

Treatment of prisoners of war

Touching on the topic of prisoners of war, Lubinets noted that on the territory of Ukraine, prisoners of war from the Russian Federation are protected by the Geneva Convention — representatives of the Red Cross visit a specially created camp for Russian prisoners of war, check the conditions of their detention, prisoners can make telephone calls to their relatives every week.

“And what is happening to Ukrainian prisoners of war? We don't even know where they are, we don't even know their number. We don't even have access to verification. Nobody writes letters to anyone. This system does not work (in Russia),” the Ukrainian Ombudsman was indignant.

Earlier, Lubinets expressed the opinion that Russia blocked the exchange of prisoners to prepare a new Maidan in Ukraine.

Difficult conditions of detention

At the conference, Dmytro Lubinets also said that, according to his information, Ukrainians in captivity lose tens of kilograms of weight because the Russians feed them something similar to colored water.

According to Lubinets, there was one case when, during five months of captivity, a Ukrainian prisoner of war lost 77 kg of weight. The Ombudsman noted that upon returning from Russian captivity, the Ukrainian fighters are mostly in serious condition and need rehabilitation.