Ombudsman Denisov: Russians keep Ukrainian prisoners of war in general regime colonies

The Russian occupiers are holding Ukrainian military prisoners in general regime colonies without converting prisons into POW camps.

This was announced by the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova.

According to her, prisoners of war of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are in colonies of the general regime in the Rostov oblast of the Russian Federation. In order to do this, the occupiers resettled two penitentiaries in the south of Russia at once: a general regime colony № 1 in the town of Zverevo, and № 12 in Kamensk-Shakhtinsky near the Russian-Ukrainian border.

"One and a half months ago, detainees were evicted from there to colony 10 in Rostov-on-Don, where prisoners now sleep in three shifts. And the institutions in Kamensk-Shakhtynsky and Zverevo are now being filled at the expense of captured Ukrainian soldiers. They are guarded by employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia and prisoners left for auxiliary work," the ombudsman said.

Denisova emphasizes that such treatment of prisoners is contrary to the Geneva Convention of 1949, and appeals to the UN Commission to Investigate Human Rights Violations during the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, to take into account these facts.

• According to Iryna Vereshchuk, as of April 16, about 700 Ukrainian servicemen and more than a thousand civilians were in Russian captivity.
• Since the beginning of the war, Ukraine has officially exchanged prisoners six times.