161 civilians returned from Russian captivity: ombudsman tells how many remain

More than 14,000 Ukrainian civilians are currently being held in Russia. So far, only 161 people have been returned from Russian captivity.

These are people who have been held hostage by the aggressor country since 2014. This was announced by the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets at a briefing in Mykolaiv, the media reported.

"I do not keep statistics on individual regions, because there are those who immediately start comparing numbers and say that Lubinets works more there and less there. This is not true. According to my data, there are more than 14,000 civilian hostages – citizens of Ukraine – in the territory of the Russian Federation, and we have managed to return 161 people so far," Lubinets said.

According to the ombudsman, such a significant difference in numbers is because there is currently no mechanism for the exchange of civilians, as this issue is not regulated by international humanitarian law.

"We also do not have official intermediary countries, because it would mean additional obligations for them, although there are states that help unofficially. Among those I can name are Turkey and the Vatican, although I communicate with many countries from all continents," Lubinets said.

Earlier, Dmytro Lubinets reported that the Russian Federation is not ready to agree to a "big exchange " in the "all for all" format. The reason may be a significant difference in the number of prisoners.

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