On November 29, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War and public organizations "Military Medics of Ukraine", "The Center for Civil Liberties", "Physicians for Human Rights", "Media Initiative for Human Rights" and “The Association of Families of Prisoners of War - Defenders of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant" held a briefing for foreign ambassadors and representatives of international organizations in Ukraine on the issue of holding Ukrainian medical personnel in captivity.

Foreign ambassadors and representatives of the foreign diplomatic corps were informed about the work of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the problems of releasing Ukrainian medics, as well as possible ways of supporting Ukraine by partners. Director of the Department of International Law of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Oksana Zolotaryova drew attention to the fact that medical personnel enjoy a special status according to the provisions of the Geneva Conventions. Russia is violating its obligations under International Humanitarian Law by unjustifiably holding Ukrainian medical personnel captive, who can only be detained to provide medical care to Ukrainian prisoners of war and must be liberated as soon as their assistance is no longer needed.

Representative of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Yuriy Taraniuk, emphasized that Ukraine strictly complies with its obligations under International Humanitarian Law, particularly concerning the treatment of prisoners of war. He also highlighted the violations that the Russian Federation is committing against Ukrainian medical personnel, non-combatants, and civilian hostages.

Representatives of the public organization “Military Medics of Ukraine” reported that there are currently about 500 doctors in captivity of the Russian Federation, but the Russian Federation refuses to officially recognize these facts and does not confirm their presence in captivity.

A representative of the public organization “Physicians for Human Rights” emphasized that since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, more than 1,000 attacks on health care facilities have been recorded. As a result of these attacks, 148 civilian medical workers were killed. Mass character and systematicity of deliberate as well as indiscriminate attacks have a lasting, devastating impact on the health care system, civilian populations, and access to life-saving health care and medicines. Based on an analysis of these actions by the Russian Federation, there is every reason to believe that attacks on the Ukrainian health care system constitute war crimes as well as crimes against humanity.

During the event, military medics who went through the hell of Russian captivity provided oral testimony about cases of murder, torture, and other forms of inhuman treatment to which prisoners of war and medical personnel of Ukraine are systematically subjected by Russia.

The participants of the event appealed to the present foreign ambassadors and representatives of international organizations in Ukraine with a request to appeal to the Russian Federation with a demand to comply with the norms of the Geneva Conventions, to provide access to the places of detention of captured medical personnel and to help families find their loved ones. The Ukrainian civil society calls for active resistance to attacks on the health care system of Ukraine and to ensure that the Russian Federation is held accountable for violations of International Humanitarian Law.