The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced on Thursday that it recently gained access to Ukrainian and Russian prisoners of war, visits that had previously been extremely limited and sporadic.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is highly critical of the ICRC for not doing enough to access Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russian forces.
The ICRC itself had expressed its frustration at not being able to fulfill its mandate under the Geneva Conventions, which define the laws of war.
“Last week, the ICRC paid a two-day visit to Ukrainian prisoners of war. Another visit will take place this week. end of the month,” the ICRC said in a statement.
Deputies could assess the living conditions and treatment of the detainees and report back to their families, the organization said.
They could also distribute books, personal hygiene products, blankets and warm clothes.
The ICRC gave no details about the living conditions of the detainees.
Questioned by the AFP bureau, the ICRC did not immediately say how many prisoners had been visited or where Red Cross teams had gone.
“These visits are an important step forward in preserving humanity in the midst of the brutality of international armed conflict,” said ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric, quoted in the statement.
“We are able to assess how POWs are treated and ensure their families receive news. I hope that as a result of these visits we will have more regular access to all POWs,” he added.
The organization is not satisfied with these visits. “The recent visits are an important step forward. However, the ICRC must have free access to all POWs and be able to see them repeatedly and without witnesses wherever they are held,” the statement continued.
The United Nations Human Rights Observation Mission in Ukraine recently described mistreatment of prisoners of war by their Russian and Ukrainian captors, including instances of torture.
Although Ukrainian authorities granted unrestricted access to Russian detention camps, they had to rely on the testimonies of freed Ukrainian prisoners before allowing them to enter Russian-controlled camps.
“The vast majority” of respondents captured by Russian forces and their allied armed groups “tell us that they were tortured and ill-treated while in detention,” Bogner said.
Not only to extort information from them, but also to “intimidate and humiliate” them on a daily basis, Matilda Bogner, the head of the mission, explained in mid-November.
And it reported “credible allegations” of summary executions of Russian prisoners of war captured by Ukrainian forces and several instances of torture and ill-treatment.
Source: DN
