Russia's civilian POWs are proof that Moscow war is genocidal - Ukraine's intelligence

Andriy Yusov, a representative of Ukraine's Defense Intelligence, said during the telethon.

"The fact that we are talking today about the return of civilian hostages captured from Russian captivity is a blatant proof to the whole world that the Russian war is a genocidal war, that the enemy has committed war crimes and ignores international humanitarian law. These people should not have been held in captivity and their rights should not have been restricted. The fault of these people is that they did not submit to the Russian occupation," he said.

Yusov noted that the two Greek Catholic priests, who were returned in the latest exchange, had been arrested for representing the Ukrainian church and were under severe pressure, while the deputy head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Nariman Dzhelial, was persecuted for not giving up his identity, both cultural and civil. The released Olena Bekh is a museum employee and educator.

"These are people who should not have been in any Russian captivity. The very fact that we are talking about thousands, without exaggeration, of civilian Ukrainians in Russian captivity today is a blatant large-scale war crime on the part of Putin's Russia," Yusov emphasized.

Andriy Yusov pointed out that the detention conditions of civilians in Russian captivity can vary, and in many cases they are held outside the legal system, so international institutions have no way to verify the conditions of detention of Ukrainian civilians.

The last exchange, he said, took place with the mediation of the Vatican, as the hostages were priests of the Greek Catholic Church, and with the mediation of the UAE.

The representative of the military intelligence noted that since the full-scale war started, Ukraine has returned 3,310 people from Russian captivity as part of the work of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, mostly military, but also civilian prisoners.

• On June 28, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the return of 10 Ukrainians from Russian captivity. Among them is Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis Nariman Dzhelial.