There are up to 8,000 Ukrainians in Russian captivity, and Ukraine is holding far fewer Russians.
Source: Coordinator of the Media Initiative for Human Rights of Ukraine Tetyana Katrychenko
“Russia is now holding up to 8,000 military and civilian prisoners taken in Ukraine, including 2,500 servicemen and women captured in Azovstal, Ukraine’s final holdout as Russia closed in on the city of Mariupol. Hundreds of the Azovstal detainees are now registered as prisoners of war. Many of the civilians taken from newly occupied territories were captured via so-called filtration camps, which were at times the only route for civilians to flee from occupied and devastated cities like Mariupol. The overall number of prisoners includes at least eight foreign citizens.”
Ukraine accuses Russia of numerous detentions of people for its “exchange fund” in violation of international humanitarian law, according to which the detention and exchange of civilians is a war crime.
Representatives of Russia and its proxies in east Ukraine have called for captured Azovstal combatants to be tried in a mass war crimes tribunal. When putting the three foreign citizens through a show trial for “terrorism,” they evaded obligations under the Geneva Conventions by claiming they are mercenaries.
“It’s obvious these charges are political and can’t be applied to servicemen and prisoners of war, whether or not they are citizens of Ukraine,” said Katrychenko.
See also: Russia has created 19 filtration camps along the border with Ukraine
