According to the Human Rights Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada Liudmyla Denisova, 258 people are considered missing in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, including 67 servicemen and reservists. At least 44 more people have become victims of enforced disappearances in Crimea and the city of Sevastopol since the beginning of the Russian occupation, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said on the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearance.

"The fate of 15 of them still remains unknown. Their names are: Valeriy Vashchuk, Ivan Bondarets, Vasyl Chernysh, Timur Shaimardanov, Seyran Zinedinov, Islyam Dzhepparov, Dzhevdet Islyamov, Fedir Kostenko, Mukhtar Arislanov, Arsen Aliev, Ervin Ibragimov, Eskender Ibragimov, Eskender Apselyamov, Ruslan Ganiev, Arlen Terekhov," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

It is indicated that the overwhelming majority of these people are pro-Ukrainian activists who openly opposed the Russian occupation.

"Today, Kyiv-based prosecutor's office for the Autonomous Republic of Crimea exercises procedural guidance in 112 criminal proceedings on 173 facts of enforced disappearance, imprisonment and abduction of people. In the overwhelming majority of cases, facts were revealed that testify to the involvement of the Russian occupation administration in the disappearances," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.

The ministry noted that numerous cases of intimidation of relatives of the disappeared and witnesses were also recorded. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Russian occupation administration does not effectively investigate any of these crimes.

The Foreign Ministry recalled that the facts of the enforced disappearances of Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar activists in the occupied Crimea are reflected in the lawsuit of Ukraine against the Russian Federation in the case of violation by the Russian side of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, filed in 2017 with the International Court of Justice, and in two complaints against the Russian Federation, filed on 11 August 2018 with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR): "Ukraine v. Russia (re Crimea)", application no. 20958/1448, and "Ukraine v. Russia (VII)", application no. 38334/1849.

"On January 14, 2021, the ECHR, in its decision, recognized the complaint 'Ukraine v. Russia' (re Crimea) on applications Nos. 20958/14 and 38334/18 admissible, and established that the Russian Federation has been exercising effective control over the territory of Crimea since February 27, 2014. We demand from the Russian Federation to fulfill its obligations as an occupying state in accordance with international humanitarian law and international human rights law, which primarily concerns ensuring the right to life, liberty and security of person," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine stressed.

First Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Emine Dzhaparova stressed that Ukraine would continue working with international partners, in particular with the participants of the Crimea Platform, so that pressure on the Russian Federation to prevent such crimes and conduct an effective investigation in all cases of enforced disappearances will increase.