Ombudsman of the Verkhovna Rada for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova informs about four Ukrainian citizens detained in Belarus, calls for their proper legal protection and their release.

"I urgently appeal to the Chairman of the permanent commission on human rights, inter-ethnic relations and the mass media of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, Andrei Naumovich, with a request to provide adequate legal protection to two Ukrainian volunteers, who were detained during the mass protests in Belarus, Yevhen Vasyliev and Kostiantyn Reutsky, and also two other citizens of Ukraine - Oksana Alioshyna and a man whose name has not yet been disclosed," she wrote on her Facebook page on Thursday.

Denisova also called on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Peter Maurer, OSCE Chairman Eddie Ramu and other international human rights organizations to assist in providing legal protection to detained citizens of Ukraine.

"In addition, immediately after the arrest, I turned to the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Belarus, Igor Kizima, with a request to establish their whereabouts and check whether the citizens of Ukraine were subjected to physical force or psychological pressure from the Belarusian law enforcement agencies," the Ombudsman said.

She said also that according to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the Belarusian authorities must immediately after arrest inform the diplomatic representatives of Ukraine about the whereabouts of Ukrainian citizens and provide access for direct communication with them.

"I demand that the Belarusian side return the Ukrainians home as soon as possible! At the same time, I join the calls of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and ask the citizens of Ukraine to refrain from traveling to Belarus for now," Denisova said.