On 13 February, a meeting with representatives of civil society organizations and coordinators of families of prisoners of war and persons missing under special circumstances was held at the Hennadii Udovenko Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The meeting was chaired by Iryna Vereshchuk, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.
Representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Police of Ukraine, the National Guard of Ukraine, the Administration of the State Border Guard Service, the Security Service of Ukraine, and the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights also participated in the event.
Participants discussed key areas of the state’s work and information exchange with families of the affected persons in order to ensure an effective search for those missing and to prevent violations by Russia of international humanitarian law in the treatment of prisoners of war. Particular attention was paid to the functioning of international humanitarian mechanisms, including the need to ensure full and unimpeded access for international organizations to places where Ukrainian prisoners of war are held in the Russian Federation and in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
In her address to participants, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Mariana Betsa emphasized that the release of prisoners of war and the return of illegally detained persons remains one of the key priorities of Ukraine’s foreign policy.
“Our diplomats are using all existing mechanisms and formats of international organizations to inform the world about these crimes of Russia. At the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly, the UN Human Rights Council, as well as within the OSCE and the Council of Europe, we inform the international community about Russia’s total disregard for the norms of international humanitarian law and ensure that Russian war crimes are recorded at the international level and do not go unpunished,” the diplomat noted.
An important area of the MFA’s work is ensuring that Russia’s crimes are reflected in documents adopted by international organizations - including the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, and others. Recent examples include the December UN General Assembly resolutions on the human rights situation in the occupied territories and on the return of Ukrainian children, as well as the reports of two OSCE Moscow Mechanism missions concerning Russia’s inhumane treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war and the arbitrary detention of Ukrainian civilians.
The Deputy Minister informed participants about active preparations for a number of important meetings to be held in New York, Geneva, Vienna, and Strasbourg on 24 February 2026, in connection with the anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion. She stressed that at each of these international platforms Ukraine will raise the issue of military and civilian prisoners, illegally deported Ukrainian children, and persons missing under special circumstances.
The diplomat underlined that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine will continue to promote the most effective use of all available international legal instruments to protect the rights of Ukrainian citizens and to ensure accountability of the aggressor state for violations of international humanitarian law.
The MFA expressed sincere gratitude to the families of Ukraine’s defenders for their active participation in the discussion. Following the meeting, the parties agreed to further develop cooperation between the Ukrainian diplomatic service and families of prisoners of war, including by ensuring their participation in meetings with representatives of foreign states and international organizations, as well as in thematic events on relevant international platforms.