At the end of June, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted resolution “Support for political negotiations to enforce exchange and release of prisoners of war” 2606 (2025), based on the Report of the same name prepared by Ukrainian parliamentarians from the delegation to PACE. The experts of our Association actively assisted in the preparation of this report, providing its authors with both factual data related to the occupied territories and our analytical materials.
This Report 16197, published by PACE, repeatedly returns to the problem of the occupied territories. Among other things, Report stressed in point 28 that Russia is holding Ukrainian PoWs in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, both in mainland areas as well as in Crimea: this is complicating the relevant International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) activities, and makes it impossible for the UN and OSCE monitoring mechanisms to operate.
Such placement is also often in violation of the Third Geneva Convention, which prohibits detaining PoWs near the frontline or other dangerous zones, Report added, stressing that the satellite images and witness testimonies confirm that Ukrainian PoWs are routed through Crimea by the Russian FSB before being taken to Russia, also in violation of the Third Geneva Convention’s ban on transferring PoWs without ICRC oversight.
Report added in point 34 that Russia also denies the status of PoWs to approximately 50 Ukrainian citizens detained for their alleged participation in the “Crimean Tatar Battalion,” which was, de facto and de jure, a public formation for the protection of public order and the state border (“Asker”), as an auxiliary structure of the Kherson border detachment. This is the aggressor’s war crime and brutal violation of the Third Geneva Convention by Russia also.
Report 16197 stressed in point 50 that the main legal challenges for Ukrainian authorities relate to Russian PoWs originating from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, who were either “conscripted” and “mobilised” illegally by occupational forces, or else voluntarily joined the Russian troops. For example, in April 2025, at least 116 servicemen from occupied Crimea, most likely Ukrainian citizens, have been confirmed as captured, Report added with reference to Ukrainian official sources.
Among others, Resolution 2606 (2025) referred to the Judgment of European Court of Human Rights of 25 June 2024 in the case of Ukraine v. Russia (re Crimea), and stressed that Ukrainian PoWs are at risk of inhuman and degrading treatment, torture and even execution from the moment they are captured by aggressor on the battlefield, and subsequently during their transportation, transit and imprisonment in detention facilities, both in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and in Russia.
They are also at risk of being convicted by aggressor on trumped-up charges or simply for having taken part in hostilities and for exercising Ukraine’s right to self-defence under the UN Charter, in proceedings that violate fair trial guarantees, Resolution added.
Resolution demanded from Russia to appoint a Mixed Medical Commission to examine wounded and sick prisoners of war and make decisions on their repatriation in line with the Third Geneva Convention relating to the Treatment of Prisoners of War; to ensure that an efficient, functional and transparent official Information Bureau is established, with a mandate to cater for both prisoners of war and civilian detainees who are in aggressor’s power. Our informing relevant international bodies about the violations of Third Geneva Convention, committed by Russia, will be continued.
