Captives and Missing Persons: The Ombudsman Outlined the Scale of the Problem.

The Problem of Prisoners of War and Missing Persons Ranks Third in Terms of Appeals

The Commissioner for the Protection of Rights of Servicemen and their Families, Olga Reshetilova, reported that the issue of prisoners of war and missing persons ranks third in the number of appeals.

'It should be noted that there is a whole 'infrastructure' in the state for working with families of missing persons - a Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Iryna Vereshchuk coordinates this work from the Office of the President, the Ombudsman of the Verkhovna Rada on Human Rights, the Ombudsman for Missing Persons, Civil-Military Cooperation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,' she informed.

However, Reshetilova emphasized that relatives remain with questions, especially regarding communication with military units, the appointment of official investigations, and the provision of official investigation reports.

'In response to my latest inquiry, an officer from one of the units asked me: 'What difference does it make to them where he disappeared?'. For me, this highlights a lack of understanding among some commanders of two obvious truths: accurately and clearly established circumstances and coordinates of the disappearance directly affect further searches; relatives of missing and deceased servicemen have the right to know the truth about what happened. This is not negotiable. And we will instill this understanding in all military units. Currently, we plan a series of meetings for relatives of missing persons and prisoners of war with representatives of the units,' Reshetilova stressed.

The Commissioner also drew attention to the situation with missing servicemen from the 155th Brigade: 'Due to managerial chaos and poor accounting of personnel, it is very difficult to establish the circumstances of each serviceman's disappearance. But we are working on this, and I hope that soon we will be able to provide relatives with answers to all their questions.'