The UN Security Council holds an Arria-formula meeting on Ukrainian POWs

On August 10, the UN Security Council held an Arria-formula meeting at UN Headquarters in New York, dedicated to Russia’s systematic violations of international humanitarian law against Ukrainian prisoners of war, civilian detainees, and foreign nationals. The event was convened by Latvia and the United Kingdom at Ukraine’s initiative.

Claudia Fuentes Julio, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, reported that more than 95% of the Ukrainian former prisoners of war had stated that they were subjected to torture or ill-treatment.

Oleh Hushchyn, a representative of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, called for international monitoring missions to be granted access to the places where Ukrainians are held, and for support of the “all-for-all” exchange principle proposed by Ukraine.

Testimony was also given by those who had endured Russian captivity firsthand. Crimean Tatar activist Lenie Umerova, whom Russia unlawfully detained for 21 months, spoke about fabricated charges, isolation, and so-called “carousel detentions.”

“My story is not an exception. What happened to me is part of a system. We do not need sympathy. We need justice,” Lenie Umerova emphasized.

Serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Juan Alberto Leiva García, who spent 1,183 days in captivity, also shared what he had been through.

“During the daily security checks, I was beaten even more — not only for being a Ukrainian marine, not only for being a drone specialist, not only for being a defender of Azovstal, but mainly for my Latin American name.”

Particular attention was paid to the missing persons who may be held in captivity without official confirmation of their status, and to the fate of those who fell into Russian captivity even before the full-scale invasion. Another topic was “predatory recruitment” — Russia’s forced and deceptive enlistment of third-country nationals into its war against Ukraine.

The meeting was a continuation of the work begun at the previous UN Security Council Arria-formula meeting in January 2025. Ukraine stated that it will continue to use the UN platform to secure the release of every prisoner and to hold those responsible accountable.