Ukraine insists on ICRC access to POWs – Lubinets on quadrilateral meeting with Moskalkova
For the first time, on the initiative of the Ukrainian side, a four-party meeting on prisoners of war (POW) was held with the participation of the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets, the Russian Commissioner for Human Rights Tatiana Moskalkova, heads of the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Ukraine Jurg Eglin and the ICRC delegation in Russia and Belarus Boris Michel.
"Improving the conditions of detention of prisoners of war and their return to their homeland was the topic of a quadripartite meeting between me, Russian Commissioner for Human Rights Tatyana Moskalkova, heads of the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ukraine Jurg Eglin and the ICRC delegation in Russia and Belarus Boris Michel. Such a meeting took place for the first time precisely on the initiative of the Ukrainian side," Lubinets wrote on Telegram on Thursday.
He spoke about the issues that were discussed during the meeting. In particular, according to him, the Ukrainian and Russian sides reported on the transfer of packages and letters for prisoners of war and agreed to continue this humanitarian mission in 2025.
"The Ukrainian side has repeatedly stressed the need for the ICRC's access to all (!) places of detention of Ukrainian prisoners of war in order to fully ensure the fulfilment of the ICRC's mandate and the full implementation of the Geneva Conventions," Lubinets stressed.
"The Ukrainian side once again insisted on the creation of a Russian joint medical commission to verify the seriously injured and seriously ill and their priority repatriation to their native land, in accordance with the third convention; they talked about the return of civilians who are being held in places of deprivation of liberty," Lubinets added.
According to him, the parties also agreed to continue the mutual exchange of information on the search for missing prisoners of war.