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Ukrainian and Russian human rights activists are calling on world leaders to make the release of thousands of Ukrainian civilians held in Russian captivity a central part of any peace agreement. This is stated in an article by The Guardian on 1 May 2025.
Oleksandra Matviychuk, head of the Kyiv-based Center for Civil Liberties, a 2022 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, stressed that the negotiations to end the war, led by the Trump administration, are focused mainly on territorial issues and security guarantees, ignoring the humanitarian aspect. “It is a huge problem that we are losing the human dimension in this political process. Only addressing the humanitarian issue can open the way to sustainable peace,” she said.
On Tuesday, The Guardian and its partners launched the Victoria Project, which investigates the death of Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna in Russian captivity and the systematic torture of thousands of civilians captured by Russian occupation forces. A preliminary autopsy of Roshchyna’s body indicates that she was tortured before her death, and that her brain and other parts of her body were removed, probably to conceal the cause of death. The European Commission condemned the murder, and the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Jan Braatu, called her death a violation of international law, in particular the Geneva Conventions and the UN Conventions against Torture.
According to the Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, as of April 2024, 16,000 missing persons were registered, although the exact number cannot be established. Among the detainees are socially active people, former military, civil servants or accidental victims who have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment. Detainees are often held incommunicado, without charges or access to legal aid.
The Guardian and its partners have gathered testimonies from former prisoners of the notorious Taganrog Detention Centre No. 2, which confirm the harsh conditions of detention: poor food, lack of medical care, electroshock torture, physical and sexual abuse, and mock drowning. “When you hear about these conditions and torture, it becomes clear that some of these people may not live to see the end of the political process,” Matviychuk said.
Karina Malakhova-Dyachuk, co-founder of an organisation that brings together families of civilian prisoners, stressed that the release of prisoners should precede negotiations on territories or other issues. “First, there must be an agreement on the return of all people home, and only then can other negotiations begin. Otherwise, this issue will remain frozen,” she said. Her organisation represents the families of 380 prisoners, and there have been no releases in the past year.
Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to President Zelenskyy, stressed that the return of civilian prisoners, prisoners of war and Ukrainian children forcibly taken to Russia would be a key demand of Ukraine in any peace agreement. Even those convicted of “terrorism” or other crimes in Russia should be released, as Ukraine does not recognise such sentences.
Human rights activists, including Oleg Orlov of the Russian organisation Memorial, which also won the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, have called for a People First campaign advocating for the release of all prisoners and children at an early stage of the peace process. Orlov suggested a possible mechanism: the simultaneous release of Ukrainian civilian prisoners and Ukrainian citizens detained on charges of collaboration with the Russian occupiers, followed by their transfer to Russia.
Against the backdrop of these calls, the Trump administration, according to Reuters, has drafted a peace plan that covers territory, economic issues, and security guarantees, but does not mention the issue of prisoners. This is a cause for concern for human rights activists, who believe that without addressing the humanitarian issue, any peace will remain fragile.
Source: The Guardian
