At least six city mayors and heads of communities are now in Russian captivity, - Zelenskyy
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the world has little reaction to what Russia is doing to Ukrainian prisoners.
The head of state said this in an address at a conference dedicated to human rights work, Censor.NET reports.
"We all see, in particular, how little the world reacts to what Russia is doing to Ukrainian prisoners. There are still few voices in the world that speak about Ukrainian children abducted by Russia. There is almost no reaction to what the Russian presence has turned our lands, our temporarily occupied territories, into. When some people talk about 'freezing' the war, they almost never ask what will happen to millions of our people, what will happen to hundreds of thousands of children who are still in the occupied territories? And this is a very cynical silence," the President said.
According to Zelenskyy, even the most large-scale Russian war crimes are gradually being forgotten by many in the world and in Europe.
"They are being forgotten at the political level, at the level of those who could make decisions or be active to fix everything. And this is a challenge not only for us. It undermines the moral foundations of the democratic world. If Russia is allowed to do this to Ukrainians, it means that it will be perceived as a permission to do the same to other nations and other people," the Head of State explained.
He stressed that Ukraine is still forced to "actually fight for the establishment of a special tribunal against Russia for the crime of aggression".
"Do we currently receive much help from organisations such as the UN or the International Committee of the Red Cross in protecting and returning Ukrainian prisoners in Russia? Actually, no.
The other day it became known that the mayor of one of the occupied Ukrainian cities, the mayor of Dniprorudne in Zaporizhzhia, Yevhen Matveev, was killed in Russian captivity. He was captured back in March 22 when he tried to help people in his community. At least six mayors and community leaders are also currently in Russian captivity. They are among thousands of Ukrainians who are innocent but have been in captivity for years. And not just since ‘22. But also since 2014. We are doing everything we can to bring them back. 3,767 Ukrainians have already been returned from captivity. We engage intermediaries for this purpose. We are looking for various negotiating, political and legal opportunities. And we believe that it is a crime not only that Russia is holding so many of our people captive and abusing them, but also that many in the world are still not making every effort to stop this crime, return people and punish Russia for everything its war has brought," Zelenskyy added.
