Ukraine has documented facts of illegal detention of at least 1,878 civilians, but in reality this number is significantly higher, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andriy Sybiha noted in Brussels at a high-level thematic event dedicated to EU support for Ukraine’s efforts to release Ukrainian civilian citizens illegally detained by Russia.
"Our people are beaten, tortured with electricity, kept in darkness and long-term isolation, forced to stay in painful positions, deprived of food, water and medical assistance, threatened with the murder of their family members, subjected to staged executions and sexual violence," the minister noted.
Sybiha also recalled the difficult humanitarian situation in Oleshky, Hola Prystan, Zburivka and Nova Zburivka, where more than two thousand civilians survive without proper access to water, food and vital medicines. He reported that Ukraine is working together with the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to establish evacuation routes, but Russia does not allow people to leave the occupied territory.
"I call on you to use all your influence to help secure a humanitarian corridor. For many people there, time may be measured not in days, but in hours," he emphasized.
The minister noted the problem of the lack of an effective mechanism in current humanitarian law that would allow forcing Russia to release illegally detained civilians during a war. "The problem is not only in the cruelty of Russia. It also lies in the gaps of international law," he remarked.
In this context, the minister recalled the launch last year of the International Platform for the Progressive Development of International Humanitarian Law. He invited partners to join its work to develop concrete changes that will strengthen international humanitarian law and monitoring of its compliance. The head of the MFA called for increased international pressure, in particular the introduction of personal sanctions against all those involved in fabricated cases, as well as against those who manage places of illegal detention and torture chambers.
Sybiha emphasized that the ICRC must regain full and unhindered access to all Ukrainian civilian hostages and prisoners of war. He also called on colleagues to create a mandatory international mechanism for the protection and return of civilian hostages.
"Their fate cannot remain at the discretion of Russia," he said.
