The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is working to find out the fate of 23 000 people whose families have not heard from them. Presumably, they were either captured or killed, or left their home, including under duress, due to which contact with them was lost. This is stated in the release provided to Babel by the press service of the ICRC.
"Not to convey this pain when you donʼt know whatʼs wrong with your loved one, and this is a tragic reality for tens of thousands of families who live in a state of constant anxiety. Families have the right to know the fate of their relatives and, if possible, to maintain contact with them," says the head of the Bureau of the Central Tracing Agency (BCTA) of the ICRC Dusan Vujasanin.
By the end of January 2024, in cooperation with the national societies of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in Ukraine, Russia and other countries, the ICRC helped eight thousand families to obtain information about the fate or location of their missing loved ones.
Over the past two years, the ICRC has received more than 115 000 calls from families in Russia and Ukraine who are looking for their missing relatives.