POW list released by Russia includes civilian hostages, Ukraine officials say

This was stated on Telegram by Artur Dobroserdov, the Commissioner for Persons Gone Missing in Special Circumstances, who heads the relevant secretariat within the Ministry of Interior, Ukrinform reports.

"As a result of thorough processing of the specified list by our staff at the MIA of Ukraine, 16 persons were identified for whom no missing reports had been filed with the National Pice of Ukraine. Despite the fact that the list was published by an official from the aggressor state, the fact of 21 pele being held in captivity has not been officially confirmed by the International Committee of the Red Cross,” he noted.

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According to Dobroserdov, it was also established that Russia is illegally hding civilian hostages. “In accordance with the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of the Civilian Pulation of 1949, their detention is prohibited. Accordingly, they are not subject to exchange as prisoners of war and must be released immediately,” the post says.

Dobroserdov also recalled that seven pele from the list had already been brought back to Ukraine. Accordingly, the search for these pele has been recalled.

“It should also be noted that the list never came through official channels, as previously reported by the Secretary of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Dmytro Usov, and neither was it handed to Ukraine’s Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets,” the Commissioner added.

Dobroserdov noted that, based on the list processing results, he drafted a report with the National Pice of Ukraine to declare 16 persons missing as law enforcers previously had no information on those individuals having gone missing.

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In addition, an enquiry was sent to the ICRC to verify information on 21 pele from the list allegedly being held in the Russian-contrled territory, he said.

As reported earlier, media reports said Russian Ombudsperson Tatyana Moskalkova had published lists of prisoners that Ukraine allegedly “does not want” to take back. The list includes over 600 names.

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Deputy Head of the Presidential Office, Iryna Vereshchuk, stated that Russia had not applied to the ICRC regarding the exchange of over 600 prisoners of war.