"Conclusions about Ukraine are unfounded": Lubinets criticized the UN report

Ukraine provides international organizations with access to places where prisoners of war are held, while Russia simply denies them access. Despite this, the UN report ignores the disproportionate scale of violations regarding the treatment of prisoners of war by Russia and Ukraine.

This was stated by the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Ombudsman for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets.

"I have reviewed the 41st periodic report from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The report acknowledges Russia's systematic violations of human rights in Ukraine, including attacks on civilian infrastructure, executions, and torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war, illegal confiscation of property in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, and the involvement of children in military training. However, a number of the UN's conclusions about Ukraine are erroneous," the Ombudsman said.

Lubinets stressed that he "categorically disagrees" with the fact that the UN did not take into account the recommendations provided by the Office of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Ombudsman for Human Rights.

"Firstly, regarding the cases of torture of Russian prisoners of war described in the report in transit locations, the Ukrainian Office of the Prosecutor General has opened a criminal investigation based on the reported instances of torture in the transit point. Also, the Coordinating Staff, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine have confirmed that the investigation is ongoing," Lubinets noted.

He added that the report had not taken into account comments from the Ukrainian side. Moreover, the places where Russian prisoners of war are held are regularly visited by staff from the Ombudsman's office and representatives of non-governmental organizations, who confirm that the conditions there comply with the Geneva Convention.

"Secondly, reports about cases of torture and ill-treatment of Russian prisoners of war in transit locations after their evacuation from the battlefield require additional verification through authorized state bodies of Ukraine," the Ombudsman stressed.

According to him, the UN essentially "equates the scale of violations" by Ukraine and Russia, even in the absence of full access to places where prisoners of war are held in Russia.

"We all see how Ukrainians return from Russian captivity. They have been subjected to torture, physical abuse, psychological pressure, and deprived of proper medical care. They come back home sometimes with injuries that are incompatible with life," Lubinets said.
The Ombudsman emphasizes that the UN should have taken into account in its report the disproportionate scale of violations by the Russian side.

"I am outraged that in the current context, the final recommendations for Russia and Ukraine are [the same – ed.] – "to comply with international humanitarian law." In other words, the UN is equating the scale of violations, which is unacceptable," Dmytro Lubinets stressed.

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