The Office of the Ombudsman told how many missing civilians have been recorded in Ukraine since February

Oleksandr Kononenko The Representative of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the System of Security and Defense Sector Bodies said at a briefing that people with an active Ukrainian position experience harassment the most. This was reported by the press service of the Ombudsman's Office on Facebook.

Starting from February of this year, on the basis of appeals to the Secretariat of the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights, we have recorded about nine thousand cases of disappearances of civilians. Of these, 2,241 people were found. We can already say that 44 people have been released, 97 people have died. And only 170 people were verified by the International Committee of the Red Cross,” the official informed.

Kononenko noted that Russia, violating the Geneva Conventions, equates Ukrainian civilians with prisoners of war, and that among these people there are former participants in the ATO, the JFO, former law enforcement officers and even volunteers.

That is why the Office of the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights has begun the process of creating an expert council with a representative of the commissioner, where a separate area will be the issue of protecting the rights and freedoms of civilians, Kononenko said.

If you are in a temporarily occupied territory, you must report the disappearance of citizens to the National Police.

We appeal to civil society, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the UN to coordinate further actions, increase pressure on the aggressor, for the release and return of our citizens to their homeland, - summed up Alexander Kononenko.