Ukraine has never received complete lists of all captured citizens – Coordination HQ
Ukraine has never received full and exhaustive lists from the Russian side of all citizens, as well as foreign nationals who defended Ukrainian land and were taken prisoner by the enemy, stated the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
"Russian Ombudsman Lantratova published lists of our people in captivity whom the aggressor country is allegedly ready to exchange and once again accuses the Ukrainian side of reluctance to do so. The enemy, as in previous years, manipulates the lists of prisoners, declaring readiness for exchanges in words, but in reality doing everything to delay the process," the Coordination HQ said in a Telegram post on Thursday.
It is noted that the Russian side does not agree to establish mixed medical commissions whose members would have access to places of detention of prisoners, and traditionally ignores proposals for a truly large exchange under the "all for all" formula.
"Ukraine has never received from the Russian side full and exhaustive lists of all our citizens (civilian and military), as well as all citizens of other countries who defended our land and were taken prisoner by the enemy. Thanks to systematic analytical work, the Coordination Headquarters gathered information on about 200 places where our people are held in captivity. These are prisons, penal colonies, and illegal ‘basements’ both on the territory of Russia and in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine," the Coordination HQ emphasized.
For comparison: five special camps operate in Ukraine, where the living conditions of prisoners are organized in accordance with the Third Geneva Convention, and access by international humanitarian organizations is provided regularly.
The Coordination HQ states that none of the detention facilities in Russia are suitable for housing prisoners. People there are subjected to cold and starvation, denied proper medical care, abused, and tortured. "Therefore, any accusations coming from Russian officials look, to put it mildly, unconvincing and manipulative. We conduct negotiations with the sole purpose: to find and return each and every one," stated the Coordination HQ.
"The Coordination Headquarters conducts arduous, systematic work on organizing subsequent exchanges. Each exchange for us is an actual rescue of our people from abuse and physical threat to life, and we, more than anyone, are interested in ensuring that these exchanges take place regularly and that our people return in the largest numbers possible. Instead, knowing that their prisoners in Ukraine face no danger, the Russian side is in no rush to take them back. Meanwhile, it cynically uses Ukrainian prisoners as a lever of pressure on their families. Only the readiness of the Russian side to conduct an exchange, rather than put forward various lists, can demonstrate a desire to truly return their own, rather than play at propaganda," the institution’s statement stressed.