Ukraine has confirmation that only some of the people captured in the video of the meeting between Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and Ukrainian prisoners of war are being held captive in Russia.
This was announced by the Commissioner for Persons Missing in Special Circumstances, Artur Dobroserdov, in Telegram, Ukrinform reports.
In particular, he noted that recently, during the analysis of open sources, a video posted by pro-Russian information resources was found, which recorded Kadyrov’s communication with captured servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“According to the preliminary information obtained from this video, there is a high probability that these prisoners of war are on the territory of the Chechen Republic. The Office (the Ombudsman’s Secretariat) together with the National Information Bureau has confirmation that only a part of the persons captured in the video are in captivity,” Dobroserdov said.
At the same time, according to him, no official confirmation has been received through the Central Agency of the International Committee of the Red Cross regarding the 18 Ukrainian defenders mentioned in the material.
“The International Committee of the Red Cross, as a neutral mediator in armed conflicts, has an international mandate to address humanitarian issues, and we continue to work closely with them in this regard,” he said.
A representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs informed that after analyzing the video, he sent a letter to the ICRC to verify the accuracy of the information about the 18 people’s stay in the Russian-controlled territory.
“The work on coordinating the search for missing persons and establishing their fate is our priority, and we use all possible tools to achieve this goal. In total, this year, through monitoring and analysis of social networks, messengers and Internet resources, we have identified 1,062 people who were reported missing and taken prisoner by the aggressor country,” he said in a statement.
According to Dobroserdov, in order to update the data on these persons, namely, their captivity, the relevant information was sent to the Ukrainian National Center for Peacebuilding, the National Police of Ukraine, the Joint Center of the Security Service of Ukraine, and the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
“Identifying and analytical information (photos/video footage of captivity) on 2,121 people was added to the Unified Register of Persons Missing in Special Circumstances,” he said.
At the same time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs continues to call on the international community to step up efforts to release Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian hostages.
As reported, in early December, Kadyrov posted a video of a meeting with Ukrainian prisoners of war and threatened to use them as human shields against drones attacking the republic.
Photo: icrc.org
Source: Ukraine asks ICRC to verify information about 18 captured Ukrainian soldiers in video with Kadyrov
