The negotiation process on the release of Ukrainian civilians captured and held by Russia is not frozen, Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets has said.

"The process is not frozen. We are in communication. Both directly with the Russian side about the release or return of civilian hostages, we are also talking with a number of international partners. We have some initiatives that I cannot talk about publicly now. But we want to be more serious let's say, solve this issue," Lubinets told reporters at the presentation of the initiative to help children affected by the war of the DECIDE Swiss-Ukrainian project, the Ombudsman's office, the ministries of education, community development and the President's Fund for Support of Education, Science and Sports in Kyiv in Wednesday.

Lubinets said according to his office, which is based on official requests to search for Ukrainian citizens, Russia has detained more than 20,000 people in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine and in the territory under its temporary occupation, and is illegally detaining more than 20,000 people.

The ombudsman once again said that, according to international humanitarian law, Russia does not have the right to detain civilians of Ukraine "without bringing suspicions to them or holding court hearings."

Lubinets said that during the last exchange, Russia returned one civilian to the territory of Ukraine.