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UN Security Council Holds High-Level Session on Ukrainian Detainees Held in Russia
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![Photo of Katherina Popilnichenko]( "Photo of Katherina Popilnichenko")
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The United Nations Security Council convened an informal Arria-formula meeting on August 10 to address widespread Russian violations of international humanitarian law.
Organized by Latvia, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine, the session focused on the systematic abuse of Ukrainian prisoners of war, unlawfully detained civilians, and the coercive recruitment of foreign nationals into Russian forces, as reported by Ukrinform.
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Latvia's Permanent Representative to the UN, Sanita Pavlyuta-Deslandes, noted that "the goal of today's meeting is to focus on the people who should be protected by international humanitarian law and international human rights law, but whose rights Russia violates every day".
A second central focus involved the systematic torture, ill-treatment, conflict-related sexual violence, and summary executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russian custody. Discussions also addressed the involvement of foreign fighters in the war.
Pavlyuta-Deslandes stated that "Many governments of Asian, Middle Eastern, African, and Latin American countries express concern and call on Russia to stop the illegal recruitment of their citizens into its armed forces and military industry".
The UN Security Council meeting featured testimonies from several key speakers, including Crimean Tatar human rights defender Leniie Umerova and Armed Forces of Ukraine Junior Sergeant Juan Alberto Leyva Garcia, a defender of Mariupol in 2022 who spent over three years in Russian captivity.
Additional expert insight was provided by Oleh Hushchyn, a Ukrainian attorney and legal expert at the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, alongside British-Turkish-Iranian documentary filmmaker Sheida Kiran.
Previously, the Kremlin and the Russian Ministry of Defense instructed regional officials to recruit 409,000 contract soldiers under regional quotas in an effort to avoid a nationwide draft.
Local authorities faced immense pressure to meet these targets, specifically targeting individuals with debts, ongoing criminal investigations, or recently completed conscription service.
Tactics included street detentions and workplace raids across several regions, though these efforts frequently fell short of their goals and primarily served to replace active battlefield losses.
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-111f0e5095e02c02446ffed57bfb0ab1.jpeg "Photo of Roman Kohanets")
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-72febbc537cde3e20166f1b142a4481c.jpg "Smoke and flames rise over Russia’s Tyumen region. (Source: Exilenova+)")
