Chechnya holds 150 Ukrainian soldiers, reportedly uses POWs as human shields
More than 150 Ukrainian soldiers are believed to be held in captivity in the Chechen city of Grozny, with 36 classified as “missing” and the rest confirmed as prisoners, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports, citing Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for Prisoners of War Affairs.
“Ukrainian troops are captured from various front-line sectors but may later be transferred to detention facilities in Chechnya… The Kadyrov regime uses prisoners as ‘human shields’ for military sites and as leverage to lift sanctions on Kadyrov’s family,” the headquarters stated.
Chechen authorities have made no official exchange proposals. While Ukraine has provided details on the captives to the Red Cross, the organization has no access to Chechnya.
Late last year, Ramzan Kadyrov publicly displayed Ukrainian prisoners and announced plans to place them on the rooftops of strategic facilities. The 1949 Geneva Convention explicitly prohibits the use of prisoners of war as “human shields.”
Earlier, Ukrainian authorities said Russian forces are operating a black market of prisoners of war.
According to the Spokesperson of Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Petro Yatsenko, Chechen paramilitary groups were actively buying up captured Ukrainians from other Russian military factions to exchange them for their own soldiers.
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