The Russian Federation is illegally detaining more than 14,000 Ukrainians, including children, prisoners of war and civilians.
This was reported by the human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets. He noted that the return of civilians is the most difficult task.
"Returning three categories of Ukrainian citizens — children, prisoners of war, civilians — the return of civilians is the most difficult," Lubinets said.
According to him, the process of returning civilians does not involve exchange, as in the case of prisoners of war.
"We cannot change them, we do not have any additional influence on the Russian Federation. We don't even have a legal basis on the basis of which we can conduct this process," the ombudsman emphasized.
Lubinets also talked about the recent release of civilians, noting that it was the first time the Vatican took part in the release. In the past, the Vatican assisted in the return of children.
Earlier it was reported that on June 28, Ukraine returned home ten more people from Russian captivity. The first minutes of this process were very emotional and touching.
