Over 150 Ukrainian POWs may be held in Chechnya, Red Cross denied access

Ukraine's Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War shared the information with Radio Svoboda.

They noted that 36 POWs have the status of "missing person," but there is a high probability that they are in Grozny. The whereabouts of the remaining POWs have been confirmed through various sources.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has not confirmed the presence of Ukrainian POWs in Chechnya, as it does not have access to the area. Therefore, the Coordinating Headquarters is unaware of any visits by Red Cross representatives to the POWs.

"Usually, military personnel from the Ukrainian Defense Forces are captured on various fronts, but later they may be transferred to detention facilities in Chechnya. As with other places of detention in the aggressor country and temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, the treatment of POWs does not comply with humanitarian law or the provisions of the Third Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war," said the Coordinating Headquarters.

"The Kadyrov regime uses prisoners as human shields for military objects and as leverage to remove sanctions from members of the Kadyrov family," they added.

The headquarters also stated that no official exchange proposals have been received from the Chechen authorities.

• A few weeks after invading Ukraine, a Russian prison chief removed all limits on violence against Ukrainian prisoners of war.