Donetsk, Jan 31 - DAN. Ukrainian ombudswoman Lyudmila Denisova has never placed an official inquiry with the Donetsk People’s Republic about the health condition of the detainees held in the Republic, DPR representative in the Contact Group subgroup on humanitarian issues, the Republic’s ombudswoman Darya Morozova said on Monday.

“Mrs Denisova’s social media posts regularly report on the allegedly critical condition of detainees who do not get the needed medical assistance in the DPR,” Morozova said. “The chronic illnesses diagnosed long before their detention are presented as newly acquire diseases. However, the Ukrainian ombudswoman has not forwarded a single official inquiry on these cases to my address, though there are no obstacles to it on our part.”

The DPR is currently looking for 94 supporters of the Republic in the Ukrainian territory. More than 60 people on the list were detained in the beginning of the conflict, but Ukraine has not answered to the inquiries about their status or location, she added.

“The DPR has repeatedly sent its list of the missing persons to the International Committee of the Red Cross requesting it to find out their whereabouts. However, these efforts  have yielded no results. In these circumstances we view Ukraine’s silence as the attempt to hide the signs of its war crimes,” Morozova said.

Kiev’s concealing this information for so many years can mean that these people are no longer alive, the DPR ombduswoman said.

These facts require an international investigation. At this point I expect assistance from Ambassador Charlotta Relander (humanitarian subgroup coordinator for the OSCE - eds Donetsk News Agency) in discovering the whereabouts and the health conditions of our citizens  The DPR has resent the list of persons it is looking for to the ICRC address, she said.

Donbass and Ukraine last exchanged prisoners in April 2020. The DPR passed nine people to Ukraine and got ten. Over 2019 and 2020, Ukraine handed over 71 people to the Republic, but ignored the procedure to drop criminal charges and stop criminal prosecution against 50 people it had set free, as the DPR repeatedly stated. *jk