Ukraine has managed to return 161 civilians from Russian captivity since 2014

Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, said this at a briefing in Mykolaiv.

The Ombudsman emphasized that Russia is currently holding 14,000 Ukrainian civilians in captivity.

 "I do not keep statistics on individual regions, because there are those who immediately start comparing numbers and say that Lubinets works more there and less there. This is not true. According to my data, there are more than 14,000 civilian hostages - citizens of Ukraine - in the territory of the Russian Federation, and we have managed to return 161 people so far," Lubinets said. 

He also explained that we are talking about people who have been captured by Russia since 2014.

At the same time, Lubinets told which states are unofficially helping Ukraine to return captured civilians.

  "I understand that these are incomparable figures, but here's the problem: there is currently no mechanism for the exchange of civilians, because it is not regulated by international humanitarian law. We also do not have official intermediary countries, because this would mean additional obligations for them, although there are states that help unofficially. Among those I can name are Turkey and the Vatican, although I communicate with many countries from all continents," the ombudsman said.

• On July 9, Lubinets said the Russian Federation was holding more than 14,000 Ukrainian citizens in captivity.