The list is on the buffet, in a notepad offered by a real estate specialist in Deux-Sèvres. Olga A. (She wishes to remain anonymous) wrote the seven localities in which her son was held by the Russians in the past three years. The first of them is Marioupol, this Ukrainian city besieged by the army of Vladimir Putin from the start of the invasion, at the end of February 2022, and fell after three months of fierce struggle. Like many others, the son of Olga, soldier in the Ukrainian army, was captured there, April 4, 2022. After days to believe him, the 60-year-old woman, installed in France for ten years, spotted him in a report on Russian television. In the blind light of the camera, we see him aligned among other fighters, hands in the air. Vladislav (his first name was changed) was therefore alive.
They would be thousands of Ukrainians to find themselves in captivity, soldiers but also civilians. Since the start of the war, 62 exchanges have taken place and more than 4,000 Ukrainians have been released, according to the coordination headquarters for prisoners of war, a Ukrainian government body. How much are they still? Neither Moscow nor kyiv give figures. But the subject is at the heart of current diplomatic discussions. At the end of February, when Volodymyr Zelensky went to the White House, he brought photos of prisoners just released to show Donald their emaciated and tortured bodies. On March 14, in a message on Telegram, the Ukrainian president reaffirmed that “The exchange of prisoners and an unconditional provisional ceasefire of thirty days are the first rapid measures that could significantly bring together [les deux pays] of just and lasting peace ”.
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Source: Lemonde