Russia holds over 400 Ukrainian women in captivity - Coordination Centre

This is stated in the report of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Ukrinform reports.

The Coordination Headquarters noted that there are also women whose fate has been unknown since 2014, who have gone missing. The Russian side responds to numerous appeals demanding the return of captive women with silence and ignores all appeals.

The conditions of detention of Ukrainian women in Russian captivity do not comply with the Third Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. The women released from captivity report, among other things, humiliation, inhumane conditions of detention, inadequate nutrition, and the inability to receive qualified medical care and contact their families. The Russians also continue to deny the International Committee of the Red Cross access to places of detention of prisoners and civilians, of which there are more than 100 in Russia and the TOT.

The Ukrainian side has repeatedly suggested that Russia release women first, but representatives of the aggressor country are manipulating various lists. But behind all this lies an unwillingness to continue the exchanges, the Coordination Centre believes.

They also emphasise that women, as well as the severely wounded and seriously ill, should be released from captivity or repatriated to neutral countries in the first place under international humanitarian law. Instead, Russian officials pretend that they have not read the international agreements signed by their country and are not going to fulfil them.

As Ukrinform previously reported, about 38,000 missing persons under special circumstances have been registered in Ukraine.