Ukraine holds Russian POWs in five special facilities – Coordination Headquarters

This was stated by the head of the working group secretariat of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Bohdan Okhrimenko, in a comment to Ukrinform during his trip to New York, where he, along with former Ukrainian captives, spoke before the members of the UN Security Council.

“Twe have five such places in our country: ‘West-1’, ‘West-2’, ‘Center-3’, ‘West-4’, and ‘Center-5’,” he said. “All the camps are located deep inside our country – as far from the front line as possible, to minimize potential provocations and as required by international humanitarian law.”

Speaking about the former prisoners’ speech at the Security Council, Okhrimenko noted: “We wanted the military and civilians, who, thanks to the efforts of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, are returning from Russian dungeons, to share their first-hand stories at the UN Security Council.”

According to him, another goal of the trip was to “show the world that the Azov soldiers are highly motivated, very patriotic warriors defending their state, and that they are not ‘Nazis.’ This is to debunk the myth of Russian propaganda.”

Okhrimenko emphasized that Ukraine has unique experience in this war, “and we are ready to share it with the world.”

“We can share our experience in implementing the norms of international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions, while simultaneously showing how they are violated by Russia,” he explained.

He also highlighted that Ukraine follows a policy of transparency regarding the detention of Russian prisoners.

“The UN monitoring mission, all the special rapporteurs who visit Ukraine, have the opportunity to see for themselves how Ukraine has organized the treatment of enemy prisoners of war,” he added.

Talking about the organization of prisoner exchanges, he noted that the negotiation process from Ukraine is led by representatives of the Coordination Headquarters from various agencies. They “work together as a unified team to achieve prisoner exchanges in communication with the Russian side – I remind you, unofficial communication, as all our diplomatic ties have been severed,” said Okhrimenko.

The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War was established in 2022 as an auxiliary body under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Its head is chief of defense intelligence General-Lieutenant Kyrylo Budanov. The main goal of the Coordination Staff is to return our citizens – both military and civilians – who are held in Russian dungeons, as well as ensure proper treatment of enemy prisoners in accordance with the norms and principles of international humanitarian law.

As reported by Ukrinform, three former captives – Valerii Horishnyi, Nariman Dzhelyal, and Maksym Butkevych – shared their experiences of being held in Russian prisons at the UN and called on members of the UN Security Council to make every effort to free Ukrainian citizens unlawfully detained in Russia.