By KYIV. Dec 30 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Head of the President’s Office Andriy Yermak visited the Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War and held a meeting with Ukrainian defenders who were released from Russian captivity, the press service of the President’s Office said.
During the meeting, Yermak noted the importance of involving the military who went through captivity to the work of the Headquarters. In his opinion, their life experience will contribute to building the correct and effective work of the Headquarters, improving communication with relatives and friends of persons who are in captivity in Russia or in the temporarily occupied territories.
The head of the President’s Office noted the importance of providing Ukrainians who returned home from captivity with everything necessary, their rehabilitation, family support. He said that more than a month ago, while communicating with the fighters released from captivity and their relatives, he heard about the bureaucratic difficulties with the restoration of documents that sometimes arise with released captives.
"Yermak turned to Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov, and after discussing this problem, it was decided to add special functionality for released prisoners to the Diya application," the office said in the press release.
According to Fedorov, a "Personal Manager" solution has been developed, due to which those released from captivity will be able to receive assistance in restoring their passports, marriage certificates, driver’s licenses. A personal card will be created for each prisoner in Diia, and a support manager will be assigned to him.
Yermak also emphasized the importance of the work of the Headquarters in the context of the fact that today there is virtually no international organization that can visit places where Ukrainian prisoners of war are kept, monitor their health status, and control the conditions of their stay.
"We do not accept what we hear from the ICRC. It is impossible that in the 21st century there are concentration camps in the center of Europe, and they are waiting for months for approval in order to get in and check the conditions," he said.
The head of the President’s Office also emphasized the importance of involving representatives of the media, the information center of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, in the work of the Headquarters in order to strengthen communication with the public, disseminate information about activities and contacts for citizens’ appeals.
The head of the Main Intelligence Agency of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the chairman of the Coordination Headquarters, Kyrylo Budanov, for his part, noted that all servicemen who, after captivity, remained in the service of various military and law enforcement structures can be involved in the work of the Headquarters on a voluntary basis.
According to Budanov, as a result of the work of the Coordination Headquarters, some 1,456 Ukrainian defenders have already been released from the captivity of the aggressor state.
