More than 15.000 people disappeared during the war in Ukraine, an official of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) said today.
The Hague-based organization, created after the Balkan wars of the 1990s, opened an office in Kiev in July to help Ukraine document and find missing persons.
ICMP Europe Program Director Matthew Holliday said it was unclear how many people were forcibly transferred, detained in Russia, alive and separated from their family members, or died and buried in makeshift graves, reports Reuters.
"The process of investigating the missing in Ukraine will continue for years even after the fighting has stopped," Holliday said in an interview with Reuters.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, stated that the European Union is working hard "to hit Russia where it hurts in order to weaken its war capabilities."
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Russia and Ukraine have carried out the latest in a series of prisoner-of-war exchanges, with both sides handing over 50 people each, officials in Kiev and Moscow said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that Ukraine has released 50 Russian soldiers who were captured, reports Reuters.
Andriy Yermak, the head of the administration of the Ukrainian president, announced that Ukraine received 48 soldiers and two officers.
"We managed to return 19 defenders of Mariupol, as well as 15 prisoners from the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl and seven from Snake Island," Jermak said.
Kiev and Moscow have so far exchanged over 1.000 prisoners of war since the beginning of the conflict in February.
Ukraine has released 50 Russian soldiers, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced, after the exchange of prisoners between the two sides.
The head of the Donetsk region, who was appointed by Russia, said that the Kremlin will release 50 captured Ukrainians, reports Reuters.
Electricity is gradually returning to Ukrainian cities, including Kiev, after, according to the Ukrainian authorities, Russian missile attacks caused problems in the supply of electricity, reports Reuters.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, during her visit to Finland, that the European Union is preparing the ninth package of sanctions against Russia, Reuters reported.
Hungary will provide 187 million euros in financial aid to Ukraine, as its contribution to the planned aid package of the European Union in the total value of 18 billion euros in 2023, Reuters reports the decree of the Hungarian government that was published late last night.
Viktor Orban's government emphasized that it is ready to contribute to the support of Ukraine, but that it will rather pay the aid bilaterally than through a joint payment.
Two hundred and seventy-four is the day of the war in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the UN Security Council to take measures to stop Russian attacks on important infrastructure in Ukraine, which has left works across the country without electricity and heating, Reuters reported.
He added that he expects the world to "react very strongly" to yesterday's airstrikes.
"We cannot be held hostage by an international terrorist. Russia is doing everything to make electricity generators more important than the United Nations Charter," Zelensky said.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that Putin has been "making weapons to increase the suffering of the Ukrainian people" since the winter.
Russia's ambassador to the UN Vasiliy Nebenzya responded that the damage to Ukrainian infrastructure was caused by missiles from their air defense system that fell into civilian areas and called on the West to stop providing Ukraine with air defense systems.
"What we heard from Zelenskiy was anything but readiness to achieve peace, but it was a vocabulary of thoughtless threats and ultimatums. The damage to residential buildings and casualties among civilians are due to the Ukrainian air defense system, which is not located outside the cities, but in the center. the remains of Ukrainian missiles are falling on those objects because Russia does not target those places. Our attacks in Ukraine are a response to the delivery of Western weapons to Kiev," Nebenzja said.
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