Ukrainian families cross Europe to plead for prisoners held by Russia

[June 15, 2024]  By Felix Hoske and John Revill

LUCERNE, Switzerland (Reuters) - Svitlana Bilous travelled half way across Europe - from her home in Ukraine to a Swiss mountaintop resort - to stand on the sidelines of an international summit to pressure Russia to end its war in Ukraine and tell the world about her missing husband.

During the day's events, she will join scores of other relatives of Ukrainian soldiers waving banners and shouting slogans and trying to raise awareness of the troops who have disappeared on the battlefield.

Many do not know if their loved ones have been killed or taken by Russia as prisoners of war.

Russia is not invited to the summit in Buergenstock near Lucerne, at which Ukraine will present its plan to end the war that started with Moscow's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The families want the other world powers there to find ways to press Moscow to hand over information, improve the conditions of any captives and, as soon as possible, send them home.

"I must do everything in my power to get my husband back," Bilous, 34, from the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, told Reuters as officials arrived ahead of the summit

Since Anatoliy went missing in April last year, she has only heard that he is alive but had no direct contact with him. Every day she carries the shoulder patch from his uniform and prays for his return.

"I always carry his chevron with me with his callsign, Fox, always," Svitlana told Reuters, adding that she wanted Russia to adhere to the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war.

"We want specific actions regarding the return of prisoners of war (and) admission of the International Committee of the Red Cross to all places of detention," she said.

Ukrainian officials said in February about 8,000 people - civilians and soldiers - are in Russian hands.

The ICRC says it is trying to get information on the fate of 28,000 people - soldiers and civilians on both sides - who have lost contact with their families.
 

The banners carried by Bilous and fellow protesters read "Stop Russia torturing and killing Ukrainian PoWs" and "Russia is hiding Ukrainian PoWs".

Russia has repeatedly denied carrying out war crimes in Ukraine, including the torture of PoWs.

Svitlana Bilous, a 34-year-old civic activist and the wife of a Ukrainian soldier missing in action, and Illia Illiashenko, a Ukrainian former prisoner of war who was captured by Russian forces in Mariupol in 2022, look at posters before their bus tour to Switzerland to advocate for Ukrainian soldiers in Russian captivity, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 12, 2024. REUTERS/Charlotte Bruneau

It says its forces are careful to comply with international law. Cases where Russian soldiers are alleged to have committed serious crimes in Ukraine have been and continue to be prosecuted by Russian courts, it says.

In Buergenstock, returned Ukrainian prisoner of war Illia Illiashenko will address a side event organized by the Ukrainian Society of Switzerland.

Illiashenko, a sergeant in the coastal troops of Ukraine's border guard was captured during fighting in his home town of Mariupol, and held in three different camps.

The 21-year-old, who used the call-sign Smurf - was held for 10 months before being returned in a prisoner exchange.

"There is constant physical and psychological pressure in Russian captivity. They try to break your personality, you as a human. And they do it with effective methods," said Illiashenko, who was beaten and burned while in captivity.

He hoped the summit would improve the situation of his comrades who are still being held and who he hopes to see again soon.

Russia and Ukraine are both signatories to the Geneva Conventions covering the treatment of prisoners.

After the conference, the families will travel to Geneva to meet officials from the ICRC.

For Svitlana, the last 14 months have been extraordinarily difficult, with fears about Antoliy's fate constantly on her mind.

"Captivity is not a guarantee of life," she said.

"I'm clinging to the idea that my husband is still alive...that's what keeps me going. If I could send him a message, it would be simply that I love him."

(Reporting by John Revill and Felix Hoske; Editing by Dave Graham and Andrew Heavens, Kirsten Donovan)

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