Russia Uses Fake Red Cross Fronts to Block Access to Ukrainian POWs
Russia has created fake humanitarian organizations to impersonate the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and block access to Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs), Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence reported on May 28.
According to Ukrainian officials, these sham entities — established by Russian intelligence agencies — operate under the guise of carrying out humanitarian missions in detention centers.
In reality, they are used to deny international human rights monitors access to POWs and collect sensitive information from families of captured Ukrainian soldiers.
“There is confirmed information about 186 locations in Russia where Ukrainian prisoners are held and to which the ICRC and other monitoring missions have been denied access,” Ukrainian Intelligence stated.
The report warns that these fake organizations are not only facilitating disinformation but are also being used to gather personal data from the relatives of POWs, posing serious risks to both individuals and national security.
Families are urged to avoid contact with any such groups, regardless of their name or stated purpose, and to only communicate with the official Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War — the sole authorized body to handle POW negotiations and returns.
“Any information passed to the enemy will inevitably be used against Ukraine and its citizens,” the intelligence statement emphasized.
As The Gaze previously reported, during the talks in Istanbul, Ukraine and Russia discussed the ceasefire and humanitarian issues, as well as a possible meeting at the level of leaders. In particular, they agreed to exchange prisoners in the format of ‘1000 for 1000’.
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