The authorized representative of the Verkhovna Rada already counted more than 20 thousand civilians held by the Russian Federation, but with the return of the territories this number is higher.
More than 20,000 Ukrainian civilians are being held hostage by Russia. This was announced on Thursday, May 4, by Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmitry Lubinets at a press conference in Kyiv.
“According to our rough estimates, the Russian Federation is holding more than 20,000 civilian hostages. I gave these data based on personal appeals to me from relatives whose relatives and friend was detained by the Russian military. Why do I say that it is approximately and that this number is higher, because I am well aware that those in the temporarily occupied territory do not contact me or contact me in small numbers, because the Russian Federation considers even an appeal to the Ukrainian Ombudsman as espionage,” said Lubinets.
At the same time, he noted that with the return of territories, this number will be higher.
Lubinets also said that a separate working group was created at the Coordinating Headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war, dealing with the issues of civilian captives. It is headed by Oleksandr Kononenko, who is the representative of the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights in the security and defense sector. In total, during the work of the headquarters, 2279 citizens were returned to their homeland, among them 142 people were civilians.
He recalled that this week a unified register of missing persons was launched in Ukraine.
“It will take time to fill this register. Information will be gradually transferred from the National Information Bureau, from various bodies, including intelligence agencies, and the information we have gathered,” said the BP official.
Lubinets also recalled that he personally gave the first list of civilian hostages on January 13, 2023 in Ankara to Russian Ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova. It contains the names of two thousand people. “The list is compiled according to the criteria of age 65+. People with serious illnesses. After that, they received assurances from the Russian Federation that they are working on this list,” he said, adding that no further signals from Moscow.
It was previously reported that a registry of missing persons was launched in Ukraine. A single database will collect data on missing persons, as well as other information that will facilitate their search.
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Source: korrespondent
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