Ukraine’s parliamentary commissioner for human rights on Wednesday estimated more than 27,000 Ukrainian citizens held captive by Russia in the occupied territories or in the Russian Federation itself.
“According to our information, the Russian Federation is holding more than 27,000 citizens hostage,” said Dmytro Lubinets, quoted by Ukraine’s national news agency Ukrinform.
In early May, Ukraine estimated the number of civilian prisoners held by Russia in the context of the war that began more than 15 months ago with the Russian invasion at about 20,000.
Lubinets also indicated that about 700,000 children lived in the Ukrainian territories currently occupied by Russia in February 2022, when the war started, and he admitted that he cannot specify how many of them were deported to Russian territory.
“How many of them now remain in temporarily occupied areas, or how many have been taken to areas of the Russian Federation, we do not know,” said the Ukrainian parliamentary commissar.
“I believe that after we liberate all Ukrainian territories, it will be possible to see at least how many children are now in territories of the Russian Federation,” Lubinets told the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN.
According to the official, authorities count about 20,000 Ukrainian minors deported to Russia, although “in reality this number is much higher”, and are calculating where they can be accommodated, although they cannot confirm this.
The human rights commissioner also accused Belarus of participating in the deportation to Russia of prisoners of war, children and adult Ukrainian citizens held by Moscow forces in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
“We have confirmation that children, civilian hostages and Ukrainian prisoners of war have been forcibly transported across the territory of Belarus, with the direct involvement of the Belarusian authorities,” he stressed.
Since the beginning of the war, Ukraine has denounced mass arrests in Russian-occupied territories of civilians accused by Moscow-installed authorities of terrorism, espionage, collaboration with Ukrainian forces or conspiracy against the Russian military.
The military offensive launched by Russia in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 has so far led to the flight of more than 14.7 million people – 6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 8.2 million to European countries – according to the latest data from the UN, which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
At least 18 million Ukrainians need humanitarian aid and 9.3 million need food aid and shelter.
The Russian invasion – justified by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russian security – was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and Russia political and economic sanctions.
The UN presented as confirmed since the start of the war, which entered its 462nd day this Wednesday, 8,895 civilian deaths and 15,117 wounded, underlining that these numbers are far below the real ones.
Source: DN
