Since March, occupiers have taken 453 people hostage in Zaporizhzhia region, about 200 are still in captivity, - Starukh
Oleksandr Starukh, the head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration, said this in an interview with Ukrinform, Censor.NET informs.
"Since March, Russian troops have taken hostage 453 (as of July 30. - ed.) people in the Zaporizhzhia region. These are not prisoners of war, they are hostages," Starukh said.
The head of ZRMA specified that 191 out of 453 are still being held captive: six representatives of local authorities, 13 entrepreneurs, 27 heads of enterprises, institutions, establishments, organizations. "They are not released. They put them in basements, shock them with electricity, abuse them, demand money, put pressure on their families, threaten to kidnap children," he said.
Starukh added that five minors were also taken hostage by the Russian invaders. According to him, three have already been released, two have not yet been released. "Russians are simply carrying out terrorist activities. There are thousands of people who are temporarily detained for a day or two, threatening and extorting," the head of the administration emphasized.
He noted that such citizens are not prisoners of war, but hostages. Despite this, according to him, several dozen of them managed to be freed through the exchange procedure. However, there are no such exchanges recently.
In addition, Starukh informed that, according to available information, the Russians are holding hostages on the territory of Ukraine - "some were taken to Donbas, some to Crimea."
At the same time, he said that there is currently no confirmation of information about the forced deportation of citizens.
