More than 130 women — military personnel, border guards and medical workers — are in Russian captivity.
This was announced by the Deputy Prime Minister — Minister for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk.
"We have 131 women from Azovstal. Among them are those who served in the "Azov" regiment, among them are military medics, border guards, the 36th brigade of marines, national guardswomen, the Armed Forces and other formations. There are also 33 medics who are considered non-combatants according to the Geneva Conventions. These are also those who were at Azovstal," said Vereshchuk.
She emphasized that Ukraine will fight for them and loudly draw attention to Russiaʼs actions against these people.
- On June 6, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that more than 2,500 defenders of Mariupol are being held captive by the Russians.
- On June 29, Ukraine conducted the largest prisoner exchange with Russia since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. In particular, 95 defenders of the Azovstal plant in Mariupol returned home.
- On the night of July 29, explosions rang out in the colony in the occupied city of Olenivka, Donetsk oblast, where the Russians held Ukrainian prisoners of war from "Azovstal". The Russians said that it was the Armed Forces of Ukraine who hit with HIMARS. However, the General Staff of Ukraine stated that the pre-trial detention center was shelled by the Russians themselves with artillery in order to accuse Ukraine of "war crimes" and to cover up the torture of prisoners and executions. More than 40 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed by shelling, 130 were wounded. The explosions took place on the territory of the industrial zone in a newly built building that was supposed to be specially equipped to hold prisoners who had been taken out of Azovstal.