Yusov: Russia’s capture of Ukrainian civilians is proof of a genocidal war

During the full-scale invasion, 3,310 Ukrainian men and women, both military and civilian, were freed from captivity.

A representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Andrei Yusov, calls Russia’s seizure of Ukrainian civilian hostages evidence of a genocidal war. He said this on air at the telethon, answering a question regarding the latest return home of Ukrainians released from Russian captivity.

“This night, the operation ended and the 53rd exchange since the start of full-scale Russian aggression was completed. As part of this exchange, 100 Ukrainians returned, both military and civilian – 90 military and 10 civilians,” Yusov noted.

He noted that in total, since the full-scale war, 3,310 Ukrainians and Ukrainian women “both military, mainly and civilians” have been returned from Russian captivity within the framework of the work of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners.

“The very fact that we are talking today about the return of civilian captives, civilian hostages, civilian prisoners from Russian captivity is blatant proof to the whole world that the Russian war against the Ukrainians is a genocidal war, that the enemy is committing war crimes and ignoring international humanitarian right,” the GUR representative emphasized.

Yusov emphasized that these people should not have been taken captive in any way and their rights should not have been restricted.

“The guilt” of these people is that they did not submit to the Russian occupation,” he added.

An intelligence representative said that two priests of the Greek Catholic Church – Bogdan Geleta and Ivan Levitsky – were arrested and were in extremely difficult conditions under great pressure.

“In fact, they were arrested during prayer, for prayer and for representing the Ukrainian church. Mr. Nariman, in fact, of course, for not renouncing his Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian identity. Both cultural and civil. Other examples are Elena Pekh – a museum employee, a lecturer and a teacher. And in fact, we can say the same about all of them: these are people who should not have ended up in any Russian captivity,” he said.

Yusov added that the very fact that we are talking today about thousands, without exaggeration, of Ukrainian civilians in Russian captivity is a flagrant and large-scale war crime on the part of Putin’s Russia.

Regarding the conditions of detention of Ukrainian civilians compared to military prisoners, the GUR representative noted that the situations, places and conditions of detention are different. But in many cases, Ukrainian civilians are held in places not intended for this purpose, outside even the so-called legal system of Russia.

Return of Ukrainian prisoners – latest news

As UNIAN reported, on June 28, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky announced that ten more Ukrainian citizens had been returned from Russian captivity . In particular, these are Nariman Jelal, deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, captured in Crimea back in 2021, Elena Pekh and Valery Matyushenko – civilians who were in captivity since 2017-2018, Bogdan Geleta and Ivan Levitsky – priests of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, captured in Berdyansk for resistance to the occupiers.

Five more civilians who were captured on the territory of Belarus and deprived of their liberty were also released: Nikolai Shvets, Natalia Zakharenko, Pavel Kuprienko, Lyudmila Goncharenko and Ekaterina Bryukhanova.

Today, June 29, the Security Service of Ukraine showed exclusive footage of the return of Ukrainians from captivity . The Service emphasized that the life of every Ukrainian is the highest value, and noted that they are working to fulfill the president’s order and return every Ukrainian from captivity.

(C)UNIAN 2024