Nearly 24 thousand Ukrainians are considered missing

This was announced by the Human Rights Commissioner of Ukraine, Dmytro Lubinets, during a large meeting with relatives of captured and missing military personnel from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, National Guard of Ukraine, State Border Guard Service, and other formations from the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia regions, held in Dnipro.

“According to the data from the Unified Register of missing persons, which started operating on May 2 of this year, we currently know about approximately 24 thousand missing individuals”, he clarified.

During this meeting, the ombudsman talked about his communication with the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, Tatyana Moskalkova, the Russian side’s refusal to conduct an “all for all” exchange, the repatriation of severely wounded individuals, and the return of civilians.

“He pointed out that the Russians are delaying the exchange processes in order to negatively influence the relatives of the captured military personnel towards Ukraine as a state”, Lubinets noted.

Additionally, the Human Rights Commissioner informed about another method of verification for Ukrainian military personnel held captive in Russia, which involves cooperation with the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise under the Ministry of Justice.

“The discussion was candid: we discussed the inaction of the Trilateral Contact Group on Hostage Release. I also emphasized that the publicity with personal data regarding specific servicemen hampers the processes of their exchange”, he specified.

According to the ombudsman, traditionally, at the end of the meeting, his team collected appeals and lists of relatives who have loved ones in captivity or who have gone missing under particular circumstances.

Previously, it was reported that over seven thousand Ukrainian servicemen were considered missing.

Photo: open sources