Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on the provision of access for representatives of international organizations to citizens of Ukraine taken to the territory of Russia

The full-scale military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine is going on along with actions, committed by the aggressor state, that cannot be interpreted otherwise but gross violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights norms and standards.

The Russian occupation troops had got to displace thousands of citizens of Ukraine before the eyes of the whole world even prior to February 24, 2022, under the pretext of

"evacuation". Following Stalin's traditions, they have been placed in camps with a perspective to be moved to remote depressed regions of Russia. At the same time, the possibilities of communication with our citizens are limited to the maximum.

The forced displacement of population or deportation of Ukrainian citizens by the occupying authorities of the Russian Federation is a gross violation of human rights, as well as a war crime in the sense of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

In addition, in accordance with Art. 49 of the Geneva Conventions (IV) Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, 1949 and Art. 85 of Additional Protocol (I) to the 1977 Conventions, individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the occupying power are prohibited.

Ukraine calls on the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the Secretary-General of the International Organisation for Migration and the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross and other relevant international bodies and organizations to immediately facilitate the rapid return of Ukrainian citizens from the aggressor state to the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government or to the territory of democratic states that have launched powerful Ukrainian refugee support programmes.