At the UN headquarters in New York, a UN Security Council Arria-formula meeting was held on August 10, dedicated to violations of international humanitarian law concerning Ukrainian prisoners of war, civilian detainees, and foreign nationals. This was reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, writes UNN.
Details
Claudia Fuentes Julio, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations for Human Rights, took part in the meeting. The speakers included Ukrainian Armed Forces serviceman Juan Leyva Garcia, who spent more than three years in Russian captivity; Crimean Tatar activist and human rights defender Lenie Umerova, whom Russia unlawfully detained for 21 months; and Oleh Hushchyn, a legal expert at the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
During the meeting, participants presented testimonies of torture, cruel and degrading treatment, sexual violence, inhumane detention conditions, as well as the unlawful persecution and conviction of Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry emphasized that these cases are not isolated and that their systematic nature has been documented over the years by international monitoring mechanisms.
International access to detention facilities
Particular attention during the meeting was paid to the lack of proper international access to places where Ukrainians are detained in Russia and in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. The fate of missing Ukrainians who may be held in Russian captivity without official confirmation of their status was also discussed.
The meeting’s participants also raised the issue of Ukrainian citizens who fell into Russian captivity even before the full-scale invasion began in 2022. In addition, they discussed documented cases of so-called "predatory recruitment," in which Russia involves citizens of third countries in the war against Ukraine through false promises of employment, deception, and exploitation of their vulnerable circumstances.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry noted that numerous findings by UN mechanisms indicate the systematic nature of Russia’s violations of international humanitarian law. This year, the Russian armed forces, security forces, and groups affiliated with them were included for the first time in the "list of shame" in the UN Secretary-General’s report on conflict-related sexual violence, due to systematic sexual violence against Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Participants in the meeting emphasized the need to increase international pressure on Russia to ensure access to places where Ukrainians are detained, continue exchanges of prisoners of war, release unlawfully detained civilians, and establish the fate of missing persons. The need to hold those responsible for the crimes accountable was also discussed separately.
The meeting was convened by Latvia and the United Kingdom at Ukraine’s initiative. It continued the work begun during the previous UN Security Council Arria-formula meeting on violations of international humanitarian law concerning Ukrainian prisoners of war and unlawfully detained civilians, held in January 2025.
UN Security Council to convene a meeting on Ukrainian prisoners10.08.26, 16:21