A team of representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has registered hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners of war from the Mariupol Azovstal plant, the organization reported.

"On Tuesday, May 17, the ICRC, at the request of the parties, began to register the combatants leaving the Azovstal plant, including the wounded. The operation lasted through Wednesday and continued on Thursday," a press release on the ICRC's website in Ukraine said on Thursday.

It is specified that the ICRC does not transport prisoners of war to their places of detention.

"The registration process, facilitated by the ICRC, involves self-completion of a form with personal details such as full name, date of birth and the name of the next of kin. This information allows the ICRC to track the fate of the detainees and make sure they can keep in touch with their families," the ICRC said.

The organization drew attention to the fact that, according to the mandate given by the states to the ICRC under the Geneva Conventions of 1949, the ICRC must immediately have access to all prisoners of war in all places of their detention. The ICRC must be allowed to communicate with prisoners of war without witnesses, and the duration and frequency of such visits must not be unreasonably limited. When circumstances permit, each side of the conflict must take all possible measures to search for and collect the bodies of the dead. The ICRC maintains a confidential dialogue with the parties to the conflict regarding their obligations under international humanitarian law.