More than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians are considered missing, of which about 1,800 are in russian captivity.
The Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets announced this during a report broadcast on the YouTube channel by MP Oleksii Honcharenko.
“According to our data, more than 16,000 civilians are considered missing. About 1,800 are confirmed to be in Russian captivity,” Lubinets said.
He emphasized that according to the norms of the Geneva Convention, russia does not have the right to detain civilians, but mechanisms for influencing the occupying power for violating these norms practically do not exist.
"We have repeatedly made initiatives to the Russian side through intermediaries regarding the return of civilians. But there is no answer as to what to do if Russia ignores these obligations," the ombudsman stressed.
According to him, Ukraine has a separate list of Ukrainian journalists held in russian captivity and is working on their return.
"The list, unfortunately, is quite large. We have the support of international partners on this issue and have offered the Russian side a mechanism for an exchange. If they had the desire, this could have been done a long time ago," he stressed.
Ukraine has received official confirmation of the death of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna in russian captivity as a result of torture, Lubinets noted.
According to him, all information about the detained journalists, in particular Dmytro Khyliuk, is at the disposal of the state.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, the body of journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, who died in russian captivity, was returned to Ukraine.
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