No reaction: Zelensky addressed partners regarding Ukrainian prisoners.

Zelensky called for increased efforts to free Ukrainians from captivity

The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky called on his partners to be more active and principled in the fight for the release of all Ukrainian prisoners and to hold Russian war criminals accountable.

According to him, the world is responding little to the situation of Ukrainian prisoners in Russia.

'We all see how little the world responds to what Russia is doing to Ukrainian prisoners. How few voices there are in the world speaking about the children kidnapped by Russia. There is almost no reaction to what the Russian presence has turned our temporarily occupied territories into,' Zelensky said.

Zelensky thanked those who are already cooperating with Ukraine in defending people's rights and restoring peace.

'I ask you to be tireless and involve those who are still on the sidelines in this work. States, international organizations, leaders, political communities, and religious associations. Everyone who can be helpful in saving people and ensuring the supremacy of morality over everything that Russia and its allies do,' the president urged.

The president also noted that at least 6 mayors and heads of communities are in Russian captivity.

'Recently it became known that the mayor of one of the occupied Ukrainian cities, the mayor of Dniprorudne in Zaporizhzhia, Yevgen Matveyev, died in Russian captivity. He was captured back in March 2022 when he was trying to help people in his community. Currently, at least 6 mayors of cities and heads of communities are also in Russian captivity,' Zelensky reported.

The president also informed that 3,767 Ukrainians have already been returned from captivity, and efforts to find ways to free them continue.

'We believe that the crime lies not only in the detention of many of our people by Russia, which tortures them. But also in the fact that many in the world are not making enough effort to stop this crime, return people, and punish Russia for everything that its war has caused,' Zelensky emphasized.

It was previously reported that Russia is trying to compromise Ukraine in the issue of prisoner exchanges.