Ukrainian government to consider petition to ban phone calls for Russian POWs

The corresponding petition on the government's website has received 25,000 signatures required for consideration.

The author of the petition, Inna Turova, is addressing the government on behalf of the wives, mothers and sisters of the captured defenders. She is convinced that the ban on calls will not violate human rights or the Geneva Convention, as the latter only guarantees the right to correspond.

"We believe that the treatment of captured enemies should have reasonable limits. Providing them with everything required by international agreements, Ukraine must take a clear position: ‘All benefits provided beyond the requirements of the law are privileges. Privileges must be earned.’

We, who have no contact with our families, have the right to demand it, seeing how our captured enemies communicate with their families thanks to our generosity. We ask to suspend the granting of the right to telephone communication to prisoners until the Russian Federation also provides the opportunity for our defenders to use telephone communication on a regular basis," the text of the appeal says.

The author of the petition noted that during the entire period of captivity, the relatives of the captured defenders received one "formal written notification from the International Committee of the Red Cross about the stay of our loved ones in captivity." At the same time, only a few were able to communicate with the captured soldiers.

• On February 8, Ukraine returned 100 people from captivity. Most of them are defenders of Mariupol.