Drawings of Ukrainian POWs’ children exhibited in Council of Europe

NGO Voyatskyi Vyzvil with the assistance of the Permanent Representation of Ukraine to the Council of Europe opened the exhibition "I am waiting for you!", timed with the 45th Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.

This was reported by an Ukrinform correspondent.

“The last time I got a call from my brother was on March 9 last, and we never heard from him since then. He was calling from Mariupol. And that's it. He was in the hospital later, with his comrades-in-arms, some of whom were later exchanged. It’s from them that we know he is now held in Horlivka, but that's all we know,” says Avrora, 13, Leonid’s sister, who brought her drawings to the exhibition. Leonid, 22, served in Mariupol when Russia invaded.

Each of the children who created these drawings has someone from their family being held in Russian captivity. Sometimes only a location is known because all contacts with their loved one have long been lost. And sometimes, even a location can only be a guess.

Drawings of Ukrainian POWs’ children exhibited in Council of Europe / Photo: Lidia Taran, Ukrinform

Russia holds in custody nonprofit’s co -founder Natalia Yepifanova’s nephew.

“Three months have passed since the latest POW exchange. Therefore, Ukraine should appeal to international partners to strengthen political and diplomatic pressure on Russia. We think the topic should be kept in the focus of European nations. We try, speak up within the country, but we need to speak up abroad, too. It is important to us and to the European institutions as well, not to lose face because they have to stand on the guard of their values,” she said.

At the opening of the exhibition entitled "I'm waiting for you!" Borys Tarasiuk, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the Council of Europe, urged Ukrainian deputies with the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities to raise this topic at a plenary session "so that it remains on the agenda, so that as many people as possible are involved in bringing our POWs back"

NGO Voyatskyi Vyzvil was established by relatives of POWs from the 12th Brigade of the National Guard, the Mariupol garrison. Later, families of other POWs joined the initiative.

In October, the organization brought to the 10th Warsaw Security Forum two Ukrainians who told the event about their terrifying experience in Russian captivity, torture, and violations of international humanitarian law.

According to the Media Initiative for Human Rights (MIHR), the exact number of POWs held by Russia remains unclear but it amounts to thousands: “Some of them are held in the Russian-occupied territories. The MIHR also identified 42 locations across the Russian Federation – detention centers and correctional colonies. They are located both near the border with Ukraine and deeper into Russia.”

The Voyatskyi Vyzvil, together with other NGOs, has drafted an appeal to the European Parliament and the EU Council, which highlights blatant violations of international law. Among them is a sham trial of the Mariupol defenders captured by Russia that was launched June 22, 2023. It is noted that “it bears all the signs of a show-off illegitimate trial that is contrary to international humanitarian law. The Russian Federation consciously seeks to avoid for political motives further exchange of Ukrainian prisoners of war and all illegally detained persons, which increases the threat to their lives and health and confirms the importance of strengthening political and diplomatic efforts to release them."

Families of Ukrainian POWs urge to increase political and diplomatic pressure on Russia, to impose sanctions against the Kremlin regime, including personal – in relation to persons involved in violation of the rights of Ukrainian prisoners of war. The EU European Parliament and the EU Council are asked to help Ukraine swap all Ukrainian prisoners of war and illegally held persons, as well as encourage the Russians to implement the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War of August 12, 1949.

According to Ukrinform, relatives of the Ukrainian military - mothers, wives, and sisters - called on the Council of Europe to help bring back their loved ones from the Russian captivity. Representatives of the Council of Wives and Mothers of Defenders of Ukraine Women of Steel NGO and the Marine Corps of Ukraine Support Staff addressed the European institutions in October 2022.