Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry warns against victim blaming in UN’s Russian PoW treatment report
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (Photo:Enrico Strocchi/Flickr)
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has responded to a report by a UN monitoring mission in Ukraine on the "executions" of Russian prisoners of war in Ukraine in a statement published on March 24.
The Foreign Ministry's press service said it had taken note of the mission's reports, but considered it unacceptable to place responsibility on the victim of aggression.
"The Ukrainian side expects that the UN mission will avoid any steps that could be interpreted as equating the victim and the aggressor," the ministry said.
On March 24, the UN monitoring mission presented a report on the treatment of prisoners of war and a report on the human rights situation in Ukraine. In addition to large-scale Russian war crimes, including murder, torture and sexual violence against civilians, the mission reported cases of executions of prisoners of war allegedly by both Ukrainian and Russian soldiers.
Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets emphasized that Ukraine adheres to the Geneva Conventions, international law and is open to cooperation with international organizations.
He said he has met with the head of the mission on several occasions, but the UN representatives had never raised the issue of the treatment of Russian prisoners of war.
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