The issues of Ukrainian civilians illegally detained by the Russian Federation will be dealt with by a working group established at the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, said Dmytro Lubinets, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada.

"The working group will deal with the protection and release of peaceful civilians illegally detained by the aggressor state," Lubinets said during the presentation of the working group on Tuesday.

According to Lubinets, his representative in the system of security and defense sector bodies, Oleksandr Kononenko, headed the working group.

Lubinets stressed that only Ukraine, as a state, is obliged to do everything to return its peaceful citizens.

"International partners can help us, but it is our task to initiate new processes, new discussions, new public and non–public events," the Ombudsman said.

He recalled that before the creation of the working group, the Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War was engaged in the return of both prisoners of war and civilian hostages.

"Some 147 civilians released from Russian prisons are just the result of the quality of the work of a large team of the Coordination Headquarters," Lubinets said.

In turn, Kononenko said that the working group includes, among others, representatives of the state migration and border services, the national police, the Ministries of Social Policy, Health, Foreign Affairs, Justice, and the Center for Civil Liberties.

According to Kononenko, one of the tasks of the working group is to create a joint strategy for the release of civilians from Russian captivity.

"The creation of a joint strategy for the release of civilians who are illegally detained by the Russian Federation is a critical important task that requires an integrated approach and cooperation between different structures and bodies," Kononenko said.