Red Cross lacks access to thousands of prisoners of war in Russia-Ukraine conflict

By Peter Kenny

GENEVA (AA) – The International Red Cross says it has only been able to access hundreds of prisoners of war, but there are thousands more who need visiting in the Russia-Ukraine conflict that flared into a major conflict in February.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) told Anadolu Agency that it currently has teams across eight Ukraine locations in Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv, Poltava, Dnipro, Donetsk, and Luhansk.

"From there, our teams are reaching out to communities affected by the conflict in dozens of cities, including along the frontlines, conducting activities," Jennifer Sparks, ICRC public relations officer dealing with Ukraine, told Anadolu Agency.

Earlier this week, the UN Human Rights Office said that Ukraine had given access to Russians held in the country but that Russia refused access to its prisoners of war, with reports from both sides that its soldiers had been tortured in captivity.

Sparks said that the ICRC has been present in Donetsk and Luhansk since 2014, carrying out humanitarian activities in frontline areas to ensure that people affected by conflict receive assistance.

That was the year Russia illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine, and fighting began in eastern Ukraine, led by Russian-supported proxies.

The Red Cross official said that the ICRC's largest weapons contamination team globally is based with the Ukraine delegation.

"To date, we have only been able to visit hundreds of prisoners of war on both sides. And we know there are thousands more we still need access to," said Sparks.

- POW work started in 2014

The ICRC's work with prisoners of war (POW) dates as far back as October 1914, after the opening battles of World War I, in which many prisoners were taken.

The ICRC opened its international agency in Geneva; during the war, it listed almost 2.5 million POWs, visited many of them, and enabled families to send relief parcels.

The first significant offensives of 1914 were marked by the battles in northern and eastern France and fierce fighting in Russia, with many prisoners taken, and all sides suffered heavy losses.

To connect POWs and their families, the ICRC works outside the public limelight with governments and those in conflict to get access, rarely disclosing details of its negotiations.

Sparks told Anadolu Agency that the ICRC would keep demanding access to all POWs in the conflict in Ukraine, guided by its humanitarian commitment and mandate under the Geneva Conventions.

"It is essential that parties to the conflict grant us immediate, repeated, unencumbered access to prisoners of war, wherever they are held," said the official.

The ICRC's day-to-day operations in Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine focus on distributing food and hygiene items, restoring critical infrastructure, and providing support to healthcare facilities.

For instance, the Red Cross distributed emergency construction materials to 5,500 households for temporary rehabilitation of roofs damaged by shelling in the Donetsk region.

The ICRC says that in any armed conflict when it visits POWs, it gives them and their families the emotional lifeline of keeping in touch with one another.

"We share our findings and recommendations for concrete improvements to their treatment and internment conditions confidentially and directly with the authorities. Prisoners of war and their families deserve that glimmer of hope and humanity in the agony of armed conflict," says the ICRC.

- Behind closed doors

"Any actions we take – whether in public or behind closed doors – are guided by one priority: the lives, integrity, and wellbeing of prisoners of war,” the group says. “We will never stop demanding access to prisoners of war until we are able to see all of them not just once, but repeatedly, wherever they are held.”

Earlier this week, UN Human Rights Office official Matilda Bogner said its mission in Ukraine had received reports of ill-treatment by both Russia and Ukraine of POWs they have in their custody.

She also said her mission had received credible allegations of summary executions of "persons hors de combat" and several cases of torture and ill-treatment, reportedly committed by members of the Ukrainian armed forces.

Bogner told a UN press conference that over the past several months, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine interviewed 159 prisoners of war (139 men and 20 women) who Russia held.

While Ukraine gave access to Russians held in the country, Russia refused access to the prisoners of war.

"It is important to emphasize that Ukraine gave us confidential access to prisoners of war in places of internment, where we spoke to them," said Bogner.

"The Russian Federation did not grant us such access, so we conducted the interviews with Ukrainian prisoners of war upon their release."