The Ukrainian side has informed Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic about the situation with Ukrainians illegally held in Russia and in the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Ukraine's representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group, Verkhovna Rada First Deputy Speaker Iryna Gerashchenko has said.

"Ombudsman Liudmyla Denisova and I had a Skype conference with Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic. Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and his deputy Serhiy Kyslytsia also joined the conversation. We discussed the situation with Ukrainian citizens illegally held in the territory of the Russian Federation, in the territories controlled by Russian-controlled militants, and in the occupied Crimea, and informed [Mijatovic] about the violation of human rights and illegal detention of hostages, individual cases, in particular about the hunger strike of political prisoners in Russia and captives in the occupied territories," she wrote on her Facebook page on Friday.

Gerashchenko noted that representatives of the Ukrainian authorities had congratulated Mijatovic on assuming office and stressed Ukraine's openness to cooperation for the protection of human rights and the settlement of humanitarian problems.

"In October, during the fourth part of the PACE session, the Ukrainian parliamentary delegation intends to meet with Dunja Mijatovic to exchange information and discuss the development of cooperation within the mandate of the CoE Commissioner for Human Rights," she said.