Yuriy Tandit, negotiator of the center for assisting the release of hostages of the Security Service of Ukraine, said that in the course of the war acctions in eastern Ukraine 2,735 people have been released from militant captivity.
On June 17 the negotiator said “I can state the exact number [of people] we have already released. As of yesterday [June 16], a total of 2,735 people have been liberated. These aren’t only Ukrainian Armed Forces representatives, these are also representatives of the National Guard, volunteer battalions and civilians,”
He said there is no exact information on the number of people who remain in captivity.
“How many are still there – nearly 300… Unfortunately, we understand that many of these people, who were there, and those, who we have seen, were tortured. We saw traces of 30 people – those, who are in the neighboring state… But it’s been more than two months since we saw traces of Mykola Karpiuk. We’re speculating on his location. This is the closed zone, where in fact, nothing moves. And even getting a hold of them via a group of lawyers or Foreign Ministry representatives is impossible right now,” he noted.
In addition, he said that soldiers continue to be captured due to the escalation of the situation in the war zone.
