Ukraine

Russian prisoners of war (POWs) held in Ukrainian camps are no longer allowed to make phone calls to their relatives, Ukraine's Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets announced on national television on Sept. 7.

Lubinets said that the ban does not violate the Geneva Conventions, as Russian POWs can still send written letters to their families.

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Earlier in March, the petition calling to ban phone calls for Russian POWs received the needed 25,000 signatures. However, the Ukrainian parliament rejected the proposal back then, saying that phone calls "serve an important informative function, providing objective information to Russians that they should not be afraid to surrender."

Russian soldiers who have surrendered or have been captured in Ukraine are kept in four POW camps. Conditions there adhere to international laws, particularly the Geneva Conventions, according to Lubinets.

Multiple reports and witnesses show that Ukrainian POWs in Russia are most often kept in horrible conditions, subject to torture, beatings, and starvation.

However, Lubinets latest address comes amid the recent increasing number of Russia’s violating the rights of Ukrainian POWs.