The Lugansk People’s Republic will pass information on torture and abuse of LPR servicemen in Ukrainian territory to international organizations, the Republic’s ombudsperson Viktoria Serdyukova said.
“The torture of our servicemen who are held prisoner in Ukraine not merely violates the 1949 Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, it is a criminal offense. The information on the use of illegal means and methods of warfare we have gathered will be forwarded to authorities and international organizations,” Serdyukova wrote on Telegram.
Previously, LPR Acting Head Leonid Pasechnik demanded that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) pay attention to the conditions in POW camps in Ukrainian territory and ample evidence of violations of Geneva conventions by Kiev.
The Russian Federation and Ukraine held prisoner swaps on November 23 and 24, in which 85 Russian servicemen including 23 Lugansk region fighters returned from Ukrainian territory. Ukraine also got back 85 people, mostly army personnel.
The LPR got back 24 militiamen (11, nine and four) in the prisoner swaps with Ukraine last month. On November 10, Pasechnik said that another 35 Donbass defenders returned from Ukrainian captivity, including 33 LPR militiamen and two LPR residents who had fought for the DPR.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation to protect Donbass residents from Ukrainian aggression. Prior to that, LPR and DPR Heads Leonid Pasechnik and Denis Pushilin asked the Russian leader to provide military assistance. On July 3, the LPR militia and Russian armed forces fully liberated the LPR territory from Ukrainian armed formations.
The Ukrainian government launched the so-called anti-terrorist operation against Donbass in April 2014. The peace talks that began soon thereafter failed to reach tangible results due to Kiev’s position to settle the conflict by force.
The Lugansk People’s Republic became a part of Russia on September 30, 2022 following the unification referendum.*i*v
