VIENNA, October 22. /TASS/. Ukraine has become one of the world’s leading centers of human trafficking and "black-market transplantology," Dmitry Polyansky, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the OSCE, said at a meeting of the organization’s Permanent Council.

"Unfortunately, we are compelled to note that human trafficking is on the rise across the OSCE region. We have repeatedly drawn attention to this problem in Ukraine, which has long since become one of the world’s leading centers of human trafficking and ‘black-market’ transplantology," he said.

Potential and confirmed victims of human trafficking from Ukraine have been identified across Europe, Polyansky added.

"According to the latest data from the International Organization for Migration, of the 39,000 human trafficking cases recorded in Europe over the past 20 years, 19,000 involved Ukrainians. With the connivance of the Zelensky regime, human trafficking for the purpose of harvesting human organs, cells, and tissues is flourishing," the Russian representative stated.