Ukraine documented illegal detention of 1,878 civilians by russia - Sybiha

As of today, Ukraine has documented the facts of the illegal detention of at least 1,878 civilians by russia.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said this in Brussels (Belgium) during an event dedicated to the EU's support for Ukraine's efforts to release civilians illegally detained by russia, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

Sybiha noted that in reality this figure is much higher.

According to the minister, russia has turned the abduction, torture and illegal imprisonment of civilians into a systematic and conscious tool of its war, thousands of Ukrainians remain in captivity, deprived of their rights, dignity, and often - even humanity itself.

The Foreign Minister drew attention to the fact that Crimean Tatars still remain one of the largest groups among illegally detained civilians - about 180 people.

The Minister also recalled the difficult humanitarian situation in the occupied Oleshky, Holya Prystan, Zburyivka and Nova Zburyivka, where more than two thousand civilians survive without proper access to water, food and vital medicines.

Sybiha noted that Ukraine is working with the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross to create evacuation routes, while russia is not allowing people to leave the occupied territory.

He called on international partners to use all their influence to help provide a humanitarian corridor there, as well as to create a mandatory international mechanism for the protection and return of civilian hostages.

Sybiha separately drew attention to the problem of russia's abduction of Ukrainian children, as well as the illegal detention for more than four years of three former employees of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission, Dmytro Shabanov, Maksym Petrov and Vadym Holda.

The Minister drew attention to the problem of the lack of an effective mechanism in current humanitarian law that would allow forcing an aggressor state to release civilians illegally detained during the war.

As Ukrainian News Agency reported, earlier the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets reported that there may be about 16,000 Ukrainian civilians in russian captivity.