List of civilians, children, repatriation of wounded: Ukrainian Ombudsman summarises results of negotiations with Russian counterpart

Ukrainska Pravda
·3 min read

Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian parliamentary commissioner for human rights, has summarised the results of the third round of negotiations with Tatyana Moskalkova, his Russian colleague, which were focused on the liberation of Ukrainians held by the aggressor state.

Source: Lubinets on Facebook

Details: According to the Ukrainian Ombudsman, the conversation lasted for more than 2 hours. The parties discussed humanitarian issues, in particular, the initiative to speed up and deepen the return of Ukrainian prisoners of war and the liberation of civilian hostages.

As for civilian hostages, there are the following categories:

  • those detained by Russia from 2014 to 24 February 2022, including the territory of Crimea (158 people);

  • those detained in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts (373 people);

  • civilian hostages that Russia detained in all territories that were temporarily occupied or still are under Russian occupation from 24 February 2022 (for example, in Kyiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts). The number of such people who have officially applied to Lubinets’s office is more than 20,000 people.

According to Lubinets, during the communication it was agreed that the Russian side will consider a proposal for the repatriation of wounded servicemen, which is in line with the Geneva Conventions.

In addition, the Ukrainian side passed Russia lists of civilians, whose whereabouts or current conditions of detention are uncertain [roughly 20,000 people].

The basis of the formation of the lists was the age qualification, and the first list of people over 70 years of age was handed over. The Ukrainian side also handed over a list of Ukrainian citizens who are over 65 years old and, according to available information, are in serious medical condition; there’s more than 2,000 of them.

Previously, the Russian side agreed to find out where these people were, as well as in what conditions and why they were being held, says Lubinets.

Quote: "The first stage is to receive information from the Russians, and then we will raise the issue of the procedure for their return. After all, if no charges are brought against them, then, according to International Humanitarian Law, the Russian Federation must release them. And we will work out mechanisms on how to bring our citizens home.

In addition, they discussed the issue of the return of our children to Ukraine, restoration of documents and many other issues. The Russian side also reported that there are children on its territory who want to return to Ukraine. With the help of both ombudsmen (me and the ombudsman of the Russian Federation), we will be able to bring them back to their relatives. However, they did not give me any last names or any personal data!

Therefore, I am referring to all citizens of Ukraine who are looking for their children – contact me! I will make a list of parents and relatives who can pick up children. We will continue to work on their return. We agreed that I would send such a request to the Russian side, and they would form their list and officially address me as the ombudsman of Ukraine.

I note that these are the key topics that we discussed. At the same time, we also need to pay attention to many other technical issues.

It is important! Regarding the humanitarian corridor. According to our information, today [13 January], the President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will speak with Putin, and tomorrow, based on the results of the conversation with the President of the Russian Federation, he will speak with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the opening of a humanitarian corridor, in particular, for the exchange of wounded and civilians.

We are heading with small, but confident, steps on the way to bring our citizens home!".

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