Ukraine raises issue of release of Donbas captives, Ukrainian prisoners in Russia at humanitarian subgroup meeting in Minsk
Ukraine has demanded the release of the captives in Donbas and the Ukrainians convicted in Russia during the meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group's subgroup on humanitarian issues, Darka Olifer, press secretary of Ukrainian representative to the Group, Second Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, said.
Kyiv demanded to release " those who are in the territory of CADLR [certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions], and equally those who are detained in Russia", Olifer wrote on Facebook on Wednesday evening.
"Yesterday, we once again handed the lists of people to be released in the '25 for 50' format. The Ukrainian side demands that CADLR representatives give the precise details of our people's location since this is the key problem in the process of people's release," Olifer said.
In addition, Ukraine has brought the initiative to organize a special day in the Kyiv-held part of Donbas, when mothers and wives could see their families in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. "Such visits can happen under the aegis of the International Committee of the Red Cross," Olifer said.
"The issue of the illegally detained persons is the utmost sensitive and complicated one, but we will continue this work and insist that people should be able to return to their homes," Olifer remarked.
Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada First Deputy Chairperson Iryna Gerashchenko spoke at the humanitarian subgroup meeting to propose the initiative to invite professionals from the Joint Center for Control and Coordination JCCC to join the search for people gone missing in Donbas. Heraschenko wrote about it in her Facebook on Wednesday.
She also proposed to organize visits to see relatives in prisons. When referring to the idea, Heraschenko said that the initiative was given a hostile reception by representatives of the self-proclaimed republics. "They give no access to their prisons either to the Red Cross or the UN, or relatives of the hostages. On the other hand, the Ukrainian side is ready to facilitate, as an act of humanism, such visits for the relatives of those who are in prison for committing crimes," Heraschenko wrote.
