British Minister of State for Europe and Americas Alan Duncan has expressed concern about the condition of three Ukrainian political prisoners continuing the hunger strike and urged Russia to release them immediately.

"We remain concerned for the welfare of Oleh Sentsov, Volodymyr Balukh, and Emir-Huseyn Kuku, who are on hunger strike to demand Russia release Ukrainian political prisoners […] The imprisonment of these men and many more Ukrainians appears to be politically motivated and we call on the Russian authorities to release them immediately," the website of the UK government quoted him as saying on Friday.

London recalled that Ukrainian ombudsman Liudmyla Denisova had been denied access to political prisoners in Russia.

"It is deplorable that the Russian authorities continue to deny access by International monitoring organizations to the detention facilities, even as the health of these prisoners deteriorates," the minister said.