The Ukrainian authorities are conducting negotiations on transferring inmates of penitentiary establishments from the territory of Donbas that the authorities do not control, Verkhovna Rada human rights ombudsman Valeria Lutkovska said.

"There are penitentiary establishments on the territory that is not controlled by the government of Ukraine. We have only just established contact with representatives of the so-called DPR to transfer people who are in penitentiary establishments on the uncontrolled territory to the territory controlled by the government of Ukraine because these people cannot make a decision to leave of their own accord," Lutkovska said in Kyiv on Wednesday.

She also said opponents of the Kyiv authorities took children from orphanages to Russia after the conflict in Donbas began. "Ukraine at that moment did not control the border, but Russia controlled the border. The children were taken to Russia without any documents from the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. These are children for whom the state is responsible," Lutkovska said.

She added that the issue was eventually resolved and the children were returned to Ukraine.