Russia holds Ukrainian prisoners in over 300 closed camps - Coordination Headquarters
Illustrative photo: Russia holds Ukrainian prisoners in over 300 closed camps (Getty Images)
There are at least 300 places of detention for Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians in Russia, in the temporarily occupied regions of Ukraine, and in Belarus, states Oleh Hushchyn, a representative of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, according to Media Center Ukraine.
"How many facilities holding Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians do you think exist in Russia and the occupied territories? Five, maybe ten, twenty, a hundred? Three hundred," he said.
According to Hushchyn, unlike Ukraine, which has only 10 such facilities (5 camps and 5 temporary holding points) that are accessible to international organizations such as the Red Cross, the UN, and human rights defenders, the situation in Russia is drastically different.
"Russia has 300 facilities, including those in the occupied territories and the Republic of Belarus. None of them are accessible to anyone — not the Red Cross, not the UN, not the OSCE, nor even human rights activists," the representative of the Coordination Headquarters stated.
Ukrainians in Russian captivity
Recently, Associated Press reported that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, over 200 Ukrainian soldiers have died in Russian captivity. According to the outlet, many of them died as a result of torture.
One case of cruel treatment became known on April 24, when the body of journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, who died in Russian captivity, was returned to Ukraine. The exact cause of death has not yet been established. However, some media outlets published investigations indicating that the journalist’s body was returned without some internal organs.
Furthermore, Russia regularly uses torture against Ukrainian prisoners of war. According to Nestor Barchuk, a representative of the International Cooperation Department of the Azov 1st Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine, Russian military personnel have recently started distributing special instructions detailing methods of cruel treatment.
