Ukrainian Ministry of Justice discloses how Russian PoW are held: the Russians are making themselves useful
TUESDAY, 21 JUNE 2022, 11:42
Russian prisoners of war are being held in a camp in western Ukraine, as well as in smaller centres in almost every region of Ukraine, in accordance with international law. The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine expects Russia to adhere to the same norms [in its treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war - ed.]
Source: Press service of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine
Quote from the Ministry of Justice: "The State Penal Service of Ukraine has set up 51 centres in most of Ukraine’s regions and one camp in western Ukraine to hold prisoners of war."
Quote from Denys Maliuska, Minister of Justice of Ukraine: "The PoW camp is guarded. Appropriate living conditions and access to healthcare have been ensured. Crucially, the prisoners of war are given work. They don’t spend their days doing nothing. They are doing woodwork and doing things for the benefit of the Ukrainian society."
Details: In cases when it is impossible to take the prisoners of war to a camp, they might be temporarily held in pre-trial detention centres and jails, though separately from the convicts who may already be detained there. Russian PoWs who might soon be exchanged for Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russia are also held at such detention centres.
Quote from Maliuska: "I’m certain that if we demonstrate the conditions in which the Russian prisoners of war are held here, this footage will be seen in the Russian Federation, and we hope that they will ensure similar detention conditions for our citizens until we are able to exchange them."
Earlier: On 6 June, a draft law outlining changes in legislation governing the prisoners exchange procedure was introduced in Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada [Parliament - ed.]. The law proposes that those convicted in Ukraine do not have to serve their sentence following a prisoner exchange.
Background:
- Ukraine and Russia have already held several rounds of prisoner exchange since Russia’s full-scale invasion in Ukraine. Previously, prisoner exchanges had also taken place during the hostilities in eastern Ukraine and during the Russian occupation of Crimea.
- Iryna Vereshchuk, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, handed over authority over prisoner exchange to the Chief Intelligence Directorate at the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Security Service.
- The exact number of prisoners of war held by either Russia or Ukraine remains unknown.
