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Military operation in Ukraine

Red Cross representatives ready to visit prisoners kept near Donetsk — statement

The goal of the mission would be to check on the conditions of internment and treatment of prisoners, deliver essential supplies, and help them to establish contact with their families

© AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia

GENEVA, October 17. /TASS/. Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are ready to visit all prisoners of war, kept in the Yelenovka pretrial detention facility near Donetsk, the ICRC office in Geneva said on Sunday.

"A team of 11 staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), including one doctor, is ready in Donetsk to visit any prisoners of war held in the area, including at the Olenivka [Yelenovka] penal facility," the ICRC said.

The goal of the mission would be to check on the conditions of internment and treatment of prisoners, deliver essential supplies, and help them to establish contact with their families.

According to the ICRC, its representatives have been "ready for months" to visit the detainees in Yelenovka, but "to this day does not have at the same time both the minimal security guarantees on the ground and the local authorization to conduct a visit."

The organization said in a statement that its team "does not have unimpeded and repeated access to all prisoners of war in this international armed conflict," despite "nearly eight months of persistent demands."

The ICRC is set to continue demand access to all prisoners of war.

The Russian Defense Ministry said earlier that UN and ICRC experts were officially invited to participate in the investigation of the strike by the armed forces of Ukraine on the detention center in Yelenovka, which took place on July 29 and killed 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war. A total of 73 detainees and eight wardens were injured.

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Military operation in Ukraine

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