Latest news with #BohdanOkhrimenko
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Coordination Headquarters for Treatment of Prisoners of War shared how prisoner exchange lists are formed
Russia often does not bring back people whom it has previously agreed to exchange or brings other prisoners instead. Source: Bohdan Okhrimenko, Head of the Secretariat of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, said on the national joint 24/7 newscast on 26 February. Quote from Bohdan Okhrimenko: "Every day we send requests [with the names of Ukrainian servicemen - ed.] We receive refusals in 98% [of cases]. Out of each request, there may be one or two people on the Russian side who are theoretically ready to hand them over. Then the negotiation process begins, how it will be done, and who else can be included in this list. But, unfortunately, very regularly, the Russian side does not deliver the people it allegedly agreed to exchange or brings other people it did not agree to before." Details: Okhrimenko reports that the Russians have also violated the agreements in other matters, including the bringing back of female servicewomen. Okhrimenko stated that at the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion, Russian servicewomen were captured by Ukrainians and later returned to Russia. However, Russia did not return the Ukrainian female servicewomen from captivity. Quote from Bohdan Okhrimenko: "The Russian side did not follow the step we proposed. We individually handed female servicewomen to the Russian Federation, expecting the same step from the Russian side in return. Unfortunately, once again, Russia has proved that it does not keep its promises." The Coordination Headquarters previously explained that there are no priorities in the exchange of soldiers of specific military units, and Ukraine is ready to bring back all those who are in captivity, including civilians. At the same time, Okhrimenko said that the priority of the exchange may be influenced by the length of time a person has been in captivity. Quote from Bohdan Okhrimenko: "People who stay in captivity for more than 18 months are a priority in exchange per the Geneva Convention." Okhrimenko says returning civilians from Russian captivity is challenging because there is no authorised official in Russia responsible for this process. Quote: "When we ask the Russian Defence Ministry about civilians, they say: 'This is not our responsibility; we do not deal with civilians'. When we try to inquire through certain channels with an alleged Russian official about the return of civilians, we receive negative responses stating that they cannot resolve this issue. Therefore, I conclude that the problem of returning our civilians lies in the fact that there is no one in Russia who can take responsibility for this area of work." Details: The return of prisoners of war whom Russia has illegally 'convicted' is also complicated, as the Russians change the status of these captives. Quote: "Conviction is a factor that makes repatriation more difficult, but it is not a final sentence. Returning convicted individuals is more complicated because the Russians claim they are not prisoners of war but have a different status, which requires a different mechanism even within Russia." Details: However, past practice shows that returning illegally convicted Ukrainian defenders is possible. For instance, on 18 October, Ukraine managed to bring back more than 40 such individuals. Okhrimenko reported that Ukraine has managed to return approximately 220 bodies of Ukrainians who died in Russian captivity. The captivity of 100 of them was officially confirmed by the International Committee of the Red Cross, while the other 120 were known to be in captivity through other sources, such as videos. Quote: "Since September 2024, we have carried out several repatriation operations. Each operation returned more than 500 bodies. The last two returned 757 bodies each." Details: Okhrimenko added that the Coordination Headquarters has still not received a positive response from Russia regarding the return of the body of journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, whose death was reported on 10 October 2024. Quote: "The Russians treat both military and civilian prisoners equally poorly. If a person had some level of media exposure before captivity, it harms them while they are there. They are tortured more than others… If someone was well-known before captivity, there is nothing we can do about it. But if a family makes a non-public individual widely known, it complicates negotiations for their return." Details: Okhrimenko also urged families of missing soldiers not to publish their details on social media or attempt to search for them this way. Disseminating personal data could endanger a soldier who is hiding or already in captivity and attempting to conceal details of their identity from the Russians. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russia exceeded mobilization goals in occupied Ukrainian territories last year, official says
Russia fulfilled its goal of mobilizing thousands of men in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine last year, Bohdan Okhrimenko, head of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, told the news outlet Ukrinform in an interview Feb. 22. In its efforts to avoid an unpopular mass mobilization campaign at home, Russia has illegally drafted thousands of residents living in occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts, as well as in occupied Crimea. Russia exceeded its mobilization goals for these regions in 2024, Okhrimenko told Ukrinform, citing Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR). "In 2024, Russia had to mobilize thousands of people from the newly occupied territories and those who had previously been under occupation," Okhrimenko said. "According to (HUR), this plan has been fulfilled by 104%. They have a plan for mobilization here and for the current year. It is also thousands of people." Okhrimenko did not say exactly how many people in the occupied territories had been drafted into the Russian military. The Ukrainian government is working on amending legislation to remove prisoner of war (POW) status from forcibly mobilized Ukrainians who are later captured in Ukraine. "There is a certain legal incident in international documents, international law, so we are working on amending Resolution No. 413 and a number of other resolutions," Okhrimenko said. Since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, Russia has supplemented its troops by forcibly drafting tens of thousands of Ukrainians in occuped territories. Nearly 5,500 residents of Russian-occupied Crimea were mobilized into the Russian army in 2024 — a year that saw record personnel losses as Moscow ramped up its offensive in eastern Ukraine. Forced conscription under occupation constitutes a war crime under international law. Read also: As Trump and Moscow align their vision, battle to stabilize Donetsk front rests on a knife edge We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Majority of remains believed to be Ukrainian POWs killed in IL-76 crash match relatives' DNA
An examination has confirmed that the majority of the remains of what are believed to be Ukrainian POWs killed in the crash of an IL-76 warplane in Russia's Belgorod Oblast match the DNA of their relatives. These remains have been handed over to Ukraine by Russia. Source: Bohdan Okhrimenko, the head of the secretariat of Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, in an interview with Ukrinform news agency Quote: "Indeed, 62 bodies were handed back to us in December. The Security Service of Ukraine is investigating the case. So far, nearly 50 preliminary matches have been made between the remains handed over by Russia and the DNA of relatives who have contacted the Coordination Centre. We have received the remains that Russia claims are from the bodies on the plane, but the Coordination Centre has no evidence to confirm they were on board." Previously: On 8 November 2024, the bodies of 563 fallen Ukrainian defenders were brought back to Ukraine as a result of repatriation measures. In early December 2024, Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova claimed in an interview with the Kremlin-aligned Russian news agency RIA Novosti that Russia had handed over to Ukraine the bodies of POWs allegedly killed in the crash of an IL-76 in Belgorod Oblast on 24 January 2024. The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War confirmed that Russia had handed over the bodies of Ukrainian defenders, whom it claimed were killed in the downing of the IL-76. However, the remains still need to be identified. On 18 December, Dmytro Lubinets, Ukrainian Parliamentary Human Rights Commissioner, stated that the examination of the bodies could take up to two months. Background: On 24 January, a Russian Il-76 aircraft crashed in the Korocha district of Russia's Belgorod Oblast. Ukrainska Pravda sources in Ukraine's General Staff stated the plane was carrying S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. Following the crash of a Russian IL-76 in Belgorod Oblast, several Russian media outlets reported statements by Andrei Kartapolov, Chairman of the State Duma Defence Committee, claiming the aircraft was carrying dozens of Ukrainian POWs being transported for an exchange. Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine's human rights commissioner, stated he was investigating the situation. Meanwhile, Ukraine's Defence Intelligence confirmed that a prisoner exchange was scheduled for 24 January. A few hours after reports surfaced about the downing of the IL-76, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces issued a statement hinting that the aircraft was a military target and was transporting ammunition for the Russian military. Subsequently, Lubinets stated that Ukraine had found no evidence supporting claims by the Russian Ministry of Defence and other officials that the IL-76 military plane, which crashed in Russia's Belgorod Oblast, was carrying a large number of POWs. Ukraine's spy chief, Kyrylo Budanov, added that the situation surrounding the IL-76 remains unclear, as Russia has not provided any evidence of the bodies. Russia has not presented any evidence to the UN Security Council that Ukrainian prisoners of war were on board the IL-76 military transport aircraft and rejected calls for an international commission to investigate the incident near Belgorod on 24 January. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russia doesn't want to exchange captured Azov fighters and marines
Bohdan Okhrimenko, the head of the secretariat of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, has stated that Russia is unwilling to exchange captured Azov fighters and marines, but Russian negotiators are interested in swapping conscripts and Chechens from the Ukrainian side. Source: Okhrimenko in an interview with news agency Ukrinform Quote from Okhrimenko: "The situation regarding the Azov fighters, as well as the marines, is complicated. The Russian side does not want to hand them over. Russia has declared Azov a terrorist organisation, and when we succeed in bringing Azov fighters back from captivity, and their people find out, the authorities there suffer losses to their reputation. Meanwhile, marines are perceived in Russia as motivated and well-trained servicemen who would be ready to rejoin the Armed Forces upon their return. Therefore, while members of other units – such as the Territorial Defence Forces, Ground Forces, or the State Border Guard Service, whom we refer to as 'defenders of the Mariupol garrison' – are being brought back, there is indeed a problem when it comes to the marines and Azov fighters." Details: Okhrimenko also commented on the release of Azov fighters from military unit 3057. "Azovstal was defended by mixed units, comprising representatives from all branches and types of troops. At that time, Prokopenko led the Azov battalion within military unit 3057 [Denys Prokopenko, commander of the National Guard's Azov brigade – ed.]. Now, he commands the entire 3057 unit. The release of personnel from other subdivisions of this unit should also be a priority. I can say that we have managed to bring back 30% of the servicemen from military unit 3057," Okhrimenko noted. Okhrimenko stated that Russian negotiators had expressed particular interest in the return of Russian conscripts and Chechens from captivity. "Our negotiators' work sometimes involves not only securing agreements for the release of our citizens but also persuading the Russians to take back their own. They have a huge number of forcibly mobilised individuals and convicts recruited from prisons. Large numbers of those mobilised from the occupied territories and the so-called 'Luhansk/Donetsk People's Republics' [non-recognised and self-proclaimed quasi-state formations – ed.], whom Russia does not even recognise as its own citizens. They are not interested in people from small ethnic groups, except for Chechens. For some reason, they disregard their own citizens but are willing to take back Chechens. There may also be interest when a conscript is captured, as Putin has told his electorate that conscripts would not participate in combat. However, they actually do, and we have demonstrated this," he said. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
