UN: armed groups continue keeping about 400 captives in Donetsk and Lugansk regions
According to unian.ua, this was reported by Ivan Shymonovych, aide to the Secretary General of the United Nations Secretary during a meeting with journalists.
"According to our information, though we can not guarantee an absolutely accurate data, the number of people held by armed groups is up to 400 people," stated Mr. Shymonovych.
He also added that in Ukraine there are also about 1,000 who are accused in violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine. According to him, these people belong to "separatist and other groups". Ivan Shymonovych also noted that there was no information as to how many citizens of Ukraine were held in the Russian Federation.
"Since the mandate of the monitoring mission covers only the territory of Ukraine, we don't have such information, and can not collect it", he said.
Aide of UN Secretary General noted that the definition of the legal status of the detainees depends on the status of the military conflict.
"Of course, in the event of an international conflict, we proceed from the recommendations of the Red Cross and the Geneva Convention. This issue is complex, but it is necessary to define the essence of the conflict, and the involvement of foreign countries in it in order to clarify the status of prisoners of war," said Mr. Shymonovych.
He stressed that during its work the mission will facilitate the release of captives.
"I will discuss it with representatives of the Ukrainian government, I am also going to talk about it with those holding high positions among the separatists. I will call to all possible humanitarian de-escalation measures, which will also allow for respect to human rights, including humanitarian actions, liberation of people and provision of information on the people who are missing without."
