Ukrainian Parliament's Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets said that 375 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) and civilian hostages have died while in Russian captivity.

"We have a separate list; as of today, it includes 375 deceased individuals. These are Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian hostages who were verified… as having been detained by Russia; they were also verified through the International Committee of the Red Cross's international verification mechanism. And all of them returned home in coffins. In other words, the Russian Federation handed over to us the bodies of 375 tortured Ukrainian citizens who were verified as having been held in Russian captivity," Lubinets said at a press conference titled "Countering Russian disinformation. Exposing Russian disinformation regarding prisoners of war, exchanges, and missing persons" held in Kyiv on Wednesday.

According to an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent, the ombudsman added that in August 2025, the repatriated bodies included the remains of five critically ill Ukrainian defenders from the Istanbul list. "That is precisely why we insist that the number one priority for repatriation is seriously wounded and seriously ill Ukrainian citizens. Instead of complying with the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law and urgently returning them, the Russians have failed to do so and continue to do so," Lubinets said.

He said Ukrainian prisoners of war, who had official prisoner-of-war status and had been verified by the ICRC, were killed in Olenivka. On the night of July 28-29, 2022, at least 53 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed, and another 130 or so were wounded. "Verified Ukrainian prisoners of war were publicly executed in Olenivka. Each of them had been verified by the ICRC and had legally been granted prisoner-of-war status. And instead of returning them, Russia cynically orchestrated this terrorist act – a public execution," the ombudsman said.

In addition, Lubinets reported at least 345 known cases of killings and executions by the occupiers of Ukrainian soldiers who had surrendered.

"Since the start of the full-scale invasion, there have been documented cases of the killings and executions of at least 345 Ukrainian servicemen who, as shown in recorded videos, did everything they could to surrender. This means they laid down their weapons, walked out with their hands raised, lay down on the ground, and demonstrated that they were no longer engaging in combat. Russian soldiers searched them, made sure they had no weapons, removed their equipment – including any body armor they still had… After that, they forced them to lie on the ground and shot the Ukrainian soldiers at point-blank range," he said.

The ombudsman said he legally interprets this as the execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war. "According to the Geneva Convention, once a soldier has carried out all these actions, he automatically acquires the status of a prisoner of war," Lubinets said.