More than 20,000 civilians are being held hostage in Russia, which is known from the appeals of relatives, but the real figure may be even higher.

Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, said in an interview to Ukrainska Pravda that Ukraine has no right to exchange civilians for Russian prisoners of war. In this case, our state would violate international humanitarian law, so the government is looking for other ways to return its citizens.

‘The Russian Federation uses civilians to return its prisoners of war’, Lubinets said.

The Ombudsman emphasized that Ukraine does not recognize any court verdicts of the Russian Federation.

‘The total number that the Russian Federation currently holds is huge. I can only say the number of relatives of civilian hostages held by the Russian Federation who have officially contacted me; this number is over 20,000. This is an incredible number of citizens of Ukraine, whom Russia detained and is detaining without reason in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine’, Lubinets stressed.