The decision to establish the National Information Bureau (NIB) was made on March 17, 2022, during a meeting of the Government of Ukraine and approved by a relevant order.

The NIB will operate in accordance with international humanitarian law, in particular Article 122 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (III) and Article 136 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (IV).

The key goal of this body is to collect, by all possible means, and summarize data on prisoners of war, dead, missing, and illegally detained people by the occupiers, including civilians from both sides of the hostilities. Such activities will allow Ukraine to once again prove Russia’s crimes and, in the long run, to intensify the process of exchanging both prisoners and bodies.