Some 2,500 Ukrainians still in captivity, incl. many women

Several thousand Ukrainians are still being held captive by Russian occupiers, including civilians, Deputy Prime Minister for the Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Iryna Vereschuk said.

"We are talking about 2,500 prisoners. People remain in captivity, and worst of all, civilians remain there. For several exchanges in a row, civilians have not been released. It is necessary to ask questions point-blank and demand to release civilians. Civilians should be returned, not exchanged. And there are a lot of women among them," Vereschuk said in an interview with BBC Ukraine published on Sunday.

She stressed that a lot of women remain among the prisoners, they are being tortured. "If we consider that 131 women came out of Azovstal, then imagine how many women are in captivity. Only a few were returned. Women need to be rescued, they behave terribly with them. They mock, they beat our women, they torture our women. The world should not silently watch and observe when our women are killed in prison," the Deputy Prime Minister said.

According to Vereschuk, thanks to the Polish Klymentiy Sheptytsky, all Ukrainian women released from captivity will receive UAH 80,000.

Tags: #captive