Rally held in Kyiv in support of missing and captured Ukrainian defenders

A mass rally was held on Independence Square in Kyiv on Sunday to support missing and captured Ukrainian defenders.

The Territorial Defense Forces reported this on Facebook, according to Ukrinform.

"On the occasion of the Day of the Territorial Defense Forces, a peaceful mass rally in support of the missing and captured defenders took place on the capital's Independence Square, organized by the Union of Families of the Defenders of the Territorial Defense of the Cities of Ukraine," the post reads.

Mothers and fathers, wives, children, friends and relatives of service members held a two-hour rally to draw the attention of Ukrainians, the Ukrainian authorities and the international community to the problem of searching for missing persons and freeing captured Ukrainian heroes.

The event was attended not only by relatives of the soldiers of the Territorial Defense Forces, but also by other units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Representatives of the Command of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Human Rights Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the Interior Ministry, former captured fighters, active servicemen of the Territorial Defense Forces, public and cultural figures joined the event.

As many as 55,000 Ukrainian citizens have officially been registered in the Interior Ministry's Unified Register of Persons Gone Missing Special Circumstances. Most of them are service members of the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

Photo credit: Territorial Defense Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces