General Staff on the phalanges of fingers of Ukrainian soldiers handed over by Wagner mercenaries: negotiation processes are underway
Kyiv • UNN
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated that the transfer of phalanges of fingers of Ukrainian soldiers by "Wagnerites" is taking place within the framework of criminal proceedings. Negotiation processes regarding this situation are ongoing.
Commenting on the transfer of finger phalanges of Ukrainian soldiers to Ukraine by Wagner mercenaries, the General Staff stated that everything is ongoing within the framework of criminal proceedings, and negotiation processes are underway.
This was stated by Volodymyr Bilenko, a representative of the search work department of the Central Directorate of Civil-Military Cooperation of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, during a briefing, as reported by UNN.
Details
Transfer of finger phalanges of Ukrainian military by Wagner mercenaries. In the material of the Media Initiative for Human Rights about the fate of at least 3,000 Ukrainian military personnel who disappeared in battles with the "Wagner" group, it was stated that in 2023, Wagner mercenaries transferred more than a hundred finger phalanges of Ukrainian soldiers to Ukraine. Bilenko commented on this information, which was recalled during the briefing.
All this is ongoing within the framework of criminal proceedings. Negotiation processes are underway
What will happen to the missing when the war ends. Olena Belyachkova, coordinator of families of prisoners of war and missing persons at MIPR, spoke about how the state should act when martial law ends regarding missing persons.
I want to comment on the understanding of how the state should act further when martial law ends. The Coordination Headquarters and the Joint SBU Center should continue to function. Because there is an understanding that Russia will not return everyone, will not carry out an "all for all" exchange under the Geneva Convention. We are now seeing that those who have the status of missing persons are returning from captivity, and there was no information about some of them for quite a long time. This is important because we need to search for information now to record it, because the end or cessation of hostilities will mean that this process of information exchange and search will become less relevant and active. But Ukraine must search for and return everyone
Addition
About three thousand soldiers went missing in battles with "Wagnerites" in the Bakhmut direction. The Ministry of Internal Affairs admitted that there is very little information regarding missing military personnel in 2022-2023 specifically in the Bakhmut direction.