More than 7,000 servicemen considered missing in Ukraine – Commissioner Kotenko

Oleh Kotenko, the Commissioner for Persons Missing under Special Circumstances, shared the information on the United News national telethon.

"There is a figure indeed, it slightly exceeds 7,000. We hope that the people we are looking for as missing persons are prisoners of war. I think this percentage is much higher," the Commissioner said.

Kotenko emphasized that according to statistics, about 60 to 65% of the missing persons are in captivity, and the rest are dead.

Thanks to the POW exchange and their stories about where they were held and how many people they saw, Ukraine can estimate the number of captive soldiers.

"We approximately know the places where they are being held – both in Russia and in the occupied territories, I mean Luhansk and Donetsk regions. We have an idea of how many prisoners of war there are," the Commissioner added.

• As of December 30, 2022, about 3,4000 Ukrainian servicemen were known to be captive, and another 15,000 to be missing.  

• On January 14, a prisoner exchange was to take place, but the Russian side canceled it.  

• Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said that Russia was not complying with the Geneva Conventions, but was only "engaged in provocations."  

• On March 24, Ukraine handed over Russian severely injured prisoners of war captured during the full-scale invasion; Russia continues to hold Ukrainian soldiers.

• Human Rights Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets believes that the UN conclusions on Ukraine's violation of the rights of Russian prisoners of war equate the victim with the aggressor. 

• On April 10, another major prisoner exchange took place. 100 Ukrainians returned home. These are soldiers, sailors, border guards, and national guardsmen. In total, Ukraine has brought 2,105 people back from captivity. 

• On April 14, Ukraine managed to return the bodies of 82 more defenders who fell for its freedom.  

• On April 16, Ukraine and Russia held an Easter prisoner exchange, with 130 Ukrainian defenders returning home.