Global apathy over Russian war crimes alarms Zelensky

- At least six mayors and community leaders are also currently being held in Russian captivity. They are among thousands of Ukrainians, who are innocent of any crime, but have been imprisoned for years. And not only since 2022. But also, since 2014. We are doing our utmost to get them back. 3,767 Ukrainians have already been brought back from captivity, Zelensky stated on Thursday while speaking at a conference dedicated to the defense of human rights in Kyiv.

He informed that they have already managed to bring back 3,767 Ukrainian captives: men and women from Russian captivity. "We engage mediators for this purpose. We are looking for various negotiation, political and legal possibilities," explained the Ukrainian president.

- And we believe that the crime is not only that Russia is holding so many of our people captive and abusing them, but also that many global forces have still not made every effort to stop this crime, secure people’s release, and punish Russia for all that its war has caused, said Zelensky.

According to him, the world is not reacting to what Russia is doing with Ukrainian captives. How there are still so few voices in the world that speak about Ukrainian children abducted by Russia. There is also almost no response to what the Russian presence has done to our lands, our territories that are temporarily occupied, he assessed.

The president believes that many people around the world and in Europe are gradually forgetting even the largest Russian war crimes. "Unfortunately, we have to acknowledge that even the most large-scale Russian war crimes are gradually being forgotten by many in the world and in Europe. Forgotten precisely at the political level, at the level of those who could make decisions or take actions to fix everything," he added.