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More than 1,300 Ukrainians have been freed from Russian captivity since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This was announced by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. Among those released are servicemen and illegally captured civilians. The conditions under which Ukrainians are kept in the Russian Federation can only be found out from those who have returned from captivity. After all, international humanitarian organizations do not have access to places of detention of prisoners, which is a direct violation of the Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law, reports FREEDOM.
On December 1, another 50 Ukrainian soldiers returned home from Russian captivity. Among them are 14 defenders of the city of Mariupol, Donetsk region. The youngest of those released is 19 years old, the oldest is 59. Most of those released have wounds and injuries. All of them will undergo a medical examination, treatment and rehabilitation.
It was the fourth exchange in the past two weeks. At the end of November, 100 Ukrainians were freed from Russian captivity. Among them are not only military personnel who were captured on Snake Island and at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, but also civilians who, violating all the rules of warfare, are captured by the Russian army.
How many remain in captivity is not known for sure, because Russia hides places of detention and lists of prisoners, does not allow representatives of international organizations to visit them.
“1331 has already been released. We must return everyone, everyone who was captured by the enemy, the occupiers. All those who were deported, all those who suffered repressions and are kept in various “isolations” — in Russia and in the temporarily occupied territories of our state,” said Zelensky.
Gross violations of the Geneva Convention by Russia are not isolated. This is a Kremlin tradition. According to international humanitarian law, it is the duty of each party to a military conflict to provide access to prisoners, observe the rules for their detention, and report on transfers.
“They mocked us, beat us, they are inhumans. Just non-humans. Women were beaten, and women were beaten the most, their women beat us,” said the woman released from captivity.
“Wherever we were, we were in Taganrog, and in Valuyki of the Belgorod Region, Kursk Region. We were dragged almost all over Russia, let’s say. If you only knew how our boys are tortured there, they abuse them a lot, very, animalistically,” shared another Ukrainian woman.
Ukraine also takes the bodies of dead servicemen from the enemy. According to the Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, 663 bodies of dead Ukrainians were returned to their relatives.
Most of the exchanges are the result of the work of a large team. Directly to the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War. The headquarters was created on the basis of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. Work on the return of prisoners continues and will continue until the last Ukrainian is freed.
