In the course of exchanging prisoners of war (POWs) on Tuesday, representatives of the human rights offices of Russia and Ukraine convened for the first time, according to Kyiv.
In the most recent of more than 50 prisoner exchanges that have occurred during the conflict, the two nations each freed 90 seized soldiers as part of an agreement mediated by the United Arab Emirates.
But according to a statement from Ukraine’s human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets, it was the first time Russia has consented to arrange a face-to-face meeting between human rights advocates during the delegation.
“This was another initiative of Ukraine, to which the Russian side agreed for the first time,” he said.
He claimed that in order to keep an eye out for potential abuses of human rights during their incarceration, representatives on both sides documented the state in which the POWs were repatriated.
Tatyana Moskalkova, Russia’s commissioner for human rights, likewise attested to the fact that representatives of the two parties met.
They “exchanged information on possible options for the mutual return of civilians” who are being detained, according to her statement.
Rarely do the two sides have public diplomatic relations more than two years after Russia invaded Ukraine.
According to Kyiv, the Ukrainian prisoners of war complained about their subpar treatment while held captive in Russia.
Lubinets said the Russian side took note of their complaints and hoped Moscow would “make every effort to ensure the conditions of detention of prisoners of war improve.”
On Wednesday, the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine announced that it has documented instances of “torture” inflicted upon Ukrainian soldiers detained in Russia.
In a report, it stated that it had spoken with around 600 ex-Ukrainian prisoners of war, some of whom had been set free on May 31.
“Consistent with previous findings, every single interviewee from this recent exchange has given accounts of torture, from brutal beatings to prolonged stress positions, to electric shocks on genitals and to dog attacks,” it said.
“Many interviewees described feeling constantly hungry in captivity and being deprived of proper medical care for prolonged periods,” it added.
