Russia has been stealing and selling organs from dead prisoners, the wife of a Ukrainian prisoner of war has claimed.
Several bodies of dead soldiers returned by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces to Ukraine are missing vital organs, according to grim new revelations.
Larysa Salaeva, wife of a POW and head of the Freedom for Mariupol Defenders campaign group, said: “It is already well known that we receive the bodies of tortured prisoners during body swaps.”
“We receive not only tortured bodies, but also bodies, unfortunately, without organs,” he continued.
At a meeting in Ankara between representatives of families of prisoners of war and Ukraine’s ambassador to Turkey, Vasyl Bodnar, Salaeva said she believes this confirms that the black market for organ transplants in the Russian Federation is active.
“And unfortunately, the same thing happens with our prisoners of war,” he added.
Larysa Salaeva, wife of a prisoner of war and leader of the activist group Freedom for Defenders of Mariupol, accused Russia of stealing and selling the organs of dead prisoners.
Pictured: corpses of Ukrainian prisoners of war returning from Russia
According to estimates, Russia is holding more than 10,000 prisoners of war, and not all of them are military personnel. Pictured: Ukrainian prisoners of war after their release in Russia
“That is why I believe that this should be made known to everyone in order to stop this crime.”
Salaeva called on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to support the creation of a medical commission to monitor the health of Ukrainian and Russian prisoners of war.
Salaeva called on Turkey to act as a mediator to resolve humanitarian issues related to the return of prisoners of war.
“I would also like to ask Turkey, as a country that is involved in resolving all humanitarian issues related to the exchange of prisoners of war, to speak out,” he said.
The mother of a soldier has described the sorry state of affairs in which troops are returned to Ukraine in exchanges for prisoners of war.
“We see the state of health in which our boys return,” he said.
‘It’s indescribable: they are thin, they need medical help.
“His health is deteriorating more and more in captivity. It’s already the third year.”
Russia is holding more than 10,000 prisoners of war, and it is estimated that not all of them are military personnel.
Salaeva says Russia is violating the Geneva Conventions and humanitarian law.
“We want international agreements to be respected. Nothing is known about the whereabouts of the civilian population, which violates international law,” said another Ukrainian source.
Bodnar added: ‘This is a real pain that motivates us to work faster and to encourage our international partners to take certain actions.
‘One of the main demands is the creation of an international medical commission to investigate the conditions of our prisoners of war and help them combat health problems, and this is one of the messages that was conveyed to the Turkish side.’
Salaeva said the bodies of Ukrainian prisoners of war were returned tortured and without vital organs.
The last known body exchange was in June, when 254 fallen defenders were repatriated to Ukraine.
According to the Geneva Conventions, corpses and prisoners of war can only be exchanged after the war.
But in the war between Russia and Ukraine, exchanges between the two began in earnest after the first six months of conflict.
The last known exchange of bodies was in June, when 254 fallen defenders were repatriated to Ukraine.
Russian sources have denied reports of missing organs and accused Ukraine of trying to “demonise” Putin’s forces.
‘This fake is an attempt to provoke a new wave of hatred towards Russia on the part of Ukrainian citizens, in the hope of once again motivating volunteers and raising the morale of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.’
This is happening just as there is talk of peace negotiations to end the war, the War Against Fakes Telegram channel said.
This comes after chilling video evidence emerged just two weeks ago showing the brutal execution of two Ukrainian prisoners of war held by Putin’s troops.
Two surrendering prisoners of war were seen crouching in a trench before being killed by a hail of nine shots fired by Russian soldiers near Robotyne in Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region.
The apparent cold-blooded killings are believed to have occurred last month, but the images only recently emerged.
“The killing of prisoners of war is a serious violation of the Geneva Conventions and qualifies as a grave international crime,” a Ukrainian report based on the distressing images says.
The Zaporizhia Regional Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine has launched a criminal investigation into violation of the rules of war and premeditated murder by invading Russian troops.
Ukraine has also previously claimed that Russian forces have orders from their commanders to massacre captured Ukrainian troops.
In March, General Dmytro Usov, head of Ukraine’s coordination center overseeing the “corpse corridor” where Russia and Ukraine meet to exchange bodies, said: The Telegraph that a total of 2,495 bodies had been returned through the exchanges.
