“For some of the fighters, whose relatives are waiting for them, who take part in the campaign, this is already the third Christmas in Russian captivity”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“We are holding this action to draw the public’s attention to our prisoners of war, who have been in Russian torture camps for the third year. We also want to remind society that there are no holidays in captivity, just like weekends. And when people celebrate, first of all, they should remember who they are alive thanks to,” says the organizer of the event, Zaporizhia volunteer Stela Orel.
For some of the fighters, whose relatives are waiting for them, who are participating in the action, this is already the third Christmas in Russian captivity. Yes, Tatyana, the mother of the captured “Azov man”, says that she received the last information about him in 2022.
“The letter came from the SBU that nothing is known about him from 2023 until today. I mean, I don’t know where he is. The last time they spoke was in 2022, after leaving the “prisoner of honor”, and once after Olenivka. I don’t know anything more about him. And I don’t even know where he is – whether in Donetsk, or in Taganrog, or somewhere else. I don’t know anything,” the woman shares.
The families of the missing also joined the action.
“I am waiting for my beloved husband and the father of my children. He went missing on January 29, 2023. Military unit A3719. This part is still missing. We still do not know where he is, nor his siblings. A lot has disappeared during that time. Then there were “Wagners”. We are waiting, we are looking, we are going to actions,” shares a participant of the action, named Liliya, whose husband disappeared during the hostilities in Donbas.
According to Lubinets, as of November 2024, since the start of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine managed to return 3,767 Ukrainians from Russian captivity, of which only 186 were civilians.