Oleh Kuzheliev, head of the National Information Bureau, met with the families of Ukrainian border guards captured or missing. The meeting was held at the Ombudsman’s Office.

The Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, the State Border Guard Service, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the Security Service of Ukraine, the NIB, and the ICRC responded to inquiries from the relatives of the defenders.

We talked about how to bring our citizens home and how to handle russia holding our soldiers.

Ukraine follows the Geneva Conventions, so the priority is to return the wounded and women first. Ukraine asks the international community to pressure russia to follow the conventions.

Furthermore, the relatives of the prisoners of war were advised to be vigilant against any attempts by the enemy to influence or mislead them through the dissemination of misleading information.

Red Cross representatives have stated that all returned defenders are free to contact the Committee at their discretion to discuss their conditions of detention and the treatment they received from the Russians. The ICRC representatives will utilize the information obtained from such post-interviews in their future endeavors.

Oleh Kuzhelev said the NIB helps prisoners of war write to their families. Over two years, more than 12,500 letters have been sent.

The NIB website has instructions and rules for writing letters to prisoners of war.