Captives and missing persons: statistics and ways to return Ukrainians published.

The Ukrainian Commissioner for Persons Missing Under Special Circumstances, Artur Dobroserdov, reported that the number of people missing in Ukraine is over 60,000.

'More than 60,000 people are missing. We have confirmation that around 10,000 of them are in captivity. These are both official confirmations from the aggressor country through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and unofficial ones,' he stated in an interview with Suspilne.

Dobroserdov explained that official confirmation of captivity is only received from ICRC channels.

'In Geneva, there is a central search agency within this organization. Through it, we inform the Russian side about captured Russians - we report that such-and-such a person is in our custody, and their legal protection is ensured in accordance with the Geneva Convention. We also hope that similar actions are taking place on the other side,' he noted.

According to him, after determining the total number of missing persons and the number of officially confirmed captives through ICRC channels, it became clear that a significant number of people in Russian captivity do not have official confirmation.

Dobroserdov also noted that the Secretariat of the Commissioner for Persons Missing Under Special Circumstances does not conduct examinations or investigate cases.

'But we have access to all databases, registers, we communicate with families, and with international partners. Our task is to identify inconsistencies in laws and the interaction of various bodies and to influence them effectively,' he explained.

Dobroserdov clarified that the Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Captives consists, among others, of representatives from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Security Service of Ukraine, and so on.

'Their work is clearly oriented - conducting negotiations with the aggressor country, exchanging captives, and returning citizens who are held hostage. Therefore, in this part, the main actors are precisely them,' the commissioner stated.

There are over 60,000 people who are missing under special circumstances in Ukraine. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the officially confirmed number of captives is about 10,000 individuals. However, a significant number of people in captivity do not have official confirmation. Commissioner Artur Dobroserdov stated that they communicate with the International Committee of the Red Cross, which helps find captives and ensures their rights under the Geneva Convention. The Coordinating Headquarters, led by Dobroserdov, conducts negotiations with the aggressor country and deals with the exchange of captives and the return of civilians held hostage.