We feel that some 60,000 people may be held in various forms of captivity both in temporarily occupied territory and in russia – Oleksandra Romantsova

Recently voiced figures of civilians held captive by the russians, including those in the temporarily occupied territories and those already sent to the territory of the russian federation, may be much higher in reality.

Oleksandra Romantsova, Executive Director of the Center for Civil Liberties, made this statement during a briefing at Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform.

“Unfortunately, Ukraine does not have access to those (temporarily occupied – Ed.) territories in order for us, Ukraine as a state, to understand that a person is missing. It is only through relatives who have lost contact that we can make a rough estimate. Because currently different figures have been voiced. Over a thousand families have contacted us, specifically the Center for Civil Liberties, and we feel confident about this figure. But there are also 20,000, and we feel that 60,000 people may be kept in various forms of captivity in the territory occupied by the russian federation, or they may already have been deported to the territory of the russian federation. Since they (the russians – Ed.) do not provide information on the requests of Ukrainian structures, or sometimes they respond to one out of 10 of our requests, then this information is incomplete. Only our internal exchange of information, only relatives who have lost contact with their relatives, loved ones, friends, acquaintances – only you can give us an understanding of who we need to look for,” Oleksandra Romantsova explained.

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