Zelenskyy urges UN Secretary-General to do all he can to help Ukrainian prisoners of war to return

KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO – THURSDAY, 18 AUGUST 2022, 19:41

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine has urged UN Secretary-General António Guterres to mobilise all available UN mechanisms and procedures to help Ukrainian prisoners of war to return to Ukraine.

Source: President Zelenskyy during a press briefing following his meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey and UN Secretary-General António Guterres, quoted by Interfax Ukraine

Quote from Zelenskyy: "We paid a lot of attention [during the meeting - ed.] to a very sensitive issue: the safety and liberation of Ukrainian prisoners [of war] held in captivity in Russia. I urged the UN Secretary-General to take all possible measures and mobilise all available UN mechanisms to make sure all our people [i.e. prisoners of war held in Russia - ed.] can return home."

Details: President Zelenskyy also said that the parties have reached an agreement on sending a mission as soon as possible to establish all the facts relating to the killing of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Olenivka.

In addition, Zelenskyy said that he had discussed the framework for a possible visit by an IAEA mission to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

"Nuclear security is an indisputable priority for the entire world… Mr Secretary-General and I have agreed the framework for a possible visit by an IAEA mission to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, in a legal manner and via territories that have not been captured by the occupiers," he said.

Background: After the mass killing of Ukrainian PoWs in Olenivka on 29 July, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recalled that "when the defenders of Azovstal left the steelworks, the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross were acting as guarantors of the lives and health of Ukrainian soldiers."

On 4 August, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that the UN wants to launch a mission to establish the facts surrounding the deaths of Ukrainian soldiers in occupied Olenivka, Donetsk Oblast.

On 6 August, Mariupol City Council reported that Russian occupiers had started installing prison cages on the stage of the Philharmonic Hall in order to conduct a show trial of Ukrainian prisoners of war in September.

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