Seeing the face of Ukrainian soldier Maksym Kolesnykov light up with joy over an apple upon his release from Russian captivity last February was enough to bring anyone to tears.
During nearly a year in captivity, Kolesnykov lost over 30 kilograms and could not walk freely due to a severe injury in his left leg. Yet the only international organization he should have been able to rely on was never there for him.
"Not once did I see a representative of the Red Cross," Kolesnykov, now 47, told the Kyiv Independent.
Like Kolesnykov, most Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) have never been visited by the representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) while in Russian captivity, says Ukraine's Human Rights Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets.
Upon their release, numerous Ukrainian POWs revealed the horrific conditions they had endured in Russian prisons, facing near starvation, torture, and humiliation.
Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of POWs said in October that 177 Ukrainian soldiers have "died from torture and inhumane treatment" while in captivity.
But international organizations "turn a blind eye," says Lubinets.
Kolesnykov recalls conditions in the Russian prison improving only slightly during an internal inspection by the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office. He believes that if the ICRC had been present, it might have prompted the prison staff to treat POWs better.
"I think their (the ICRC) appearance could have changed something for us. Maybe some conventions would have been followed, or the (prisoners') physical state would have been documented," says Kolesnykov.
"Any oversight in such a criminal situation would be good."
With the start of the Russian full-scale war, Ukraine seems to have lost faith in major international bodies like the ICRC and the United Nations (U.N.)
Once seen as pillars of global humanitarian aid, both organizations have been widely criticized by Kyiv for not doing enough, effectively undermining their authority and the very concept of international institutions as a cornerstone of the West.
Oleg Petrasiuk
Failure after failure
The relationship between Ukrainian officials and civic society, and international organizations has deteriorated since the start of the full-scale war.
Myroslava Kharchenko, a lawyer with the NGO Save Ukraine, recalls asking the Ukrainian branch of the ICRC for a vehicle to evacuate children from Russian-occupied Kyiv Oblast early in the war, hoping its emblem would deter Russian attacks. According to Kharchenko, the ICRC refused, citing mandate limitations and also declined to provide body armor for volunteers.
"We didn't ask them to go there personally, to risk their lives; we were going to do it ourselves, but they refused," Kharchenko says.
President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized the ICRC for similar cases at the time, saying that it "says a lot" about the organization.
As the war went on, the criticism escalated: Ukraine denounced both the U.N. and the ICRC for insufficient or delayed humanitarian responses, including when Russian troops blew up the Kakhovka Dam in June 2023, resulting in a major flood in the south of Ukraine.
"They are not there," Zelensky told the Bild media outlet at the time.
Just a few hours after Russian forces destroyed the dam in Kherson Oblast, causing a humanitarian and ecological disaster, the U.N. posted on X to mark its annual Russian Language Day.
"Russian commanders will have given the order to blow up the Kakhovka Dam in Russian (language). What a day at the U.N. to celebrate the Russian Language!" Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said in response.
Russian commanders will have given the order to blow up the Kakhovka Dam in Russian. What a day at the UN to celebrate Russian language! @UnitedNationsRU tweets about cultural diversity, ignoring the biggest catastrophe in Europe in decades caused solely by Russia. Why be silent? https://t.co/8z5PIyfs8P
— Oleh Nikolenko 🇺🇦🇨🇦 (@OlehNikolenko_) June 6, 2023
That has once again prompted a discussion in Ukrainian society about whether Russia's place in various U.N. bodies and the U.N.'s lenient attitude toward Russia should be reconsidered.
Zelensky has called for the U.N. Security Council to strip Russia of its veto power multiple times: "All the U.N. actions — either by the Security Council or the General Assembly — that could have stopped this aggression are shattered by the privilege granted by this seat to the aggressor."
"Veto power in the hands of the aggressor is what has pushed the U.N. into a dead end," Zelensky said at the U.N. Security Council on Sept. 20, 2023.
"Veto power in the hands of the aggressor is what has pushed the U.N. into a dead end."
Last fall, the heads of both the ICRC and the U.N. faced backlash in Ukraine again.
In September, ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric met with the Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, who, alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin, is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for their involvement in the forced deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children.
In her social media post, Lvova-Belova even thanked the ICRC for its support in "reuniting the families" since the start of the full-scale war.
According to the Ukrainian national database, Russia has deported over 19,500 Ukrainian children from occupied territories since Feb. 24, 2022.
Russia has deported over 19,500 Ukrainian children from occupied territories since Feb. 24, 2022.
Although it's not part of the ICRC's mandate to "counter" the deportation of children, supporting it is "the height of cynicism," Kharchenko says.
On Oct. 24 — United Nations Day which marks the anniversary of the day in 1945 when the U.N. Charter entered into force — the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres took part in the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan, despite facing sharp criticism.
He also met Putin there, with a photograph of their handshake blasted by Ukrainians, as well as several Western officials on social media.
Before that, Guterres had declined Ukraine's invitation to the first global peace summit in Switzerland, held last summer. In response, Zelensky also reportedly rejected Guterres' visit to Ukraine.
"Although even some of its functionaries prefer the temptations in Kazan to the content of the U.N. Charter, our world is built in such a way that the rights of nations and the norms of international law matter and will matter," Zelensky said on Oct. 24, alluding to Guterres' actions.
Kateryna Denisova
Access to Ukrainian POWs
The treatment of Ukrainian POWs in Russian captivity remains one of the most pressing issues for Ukrainian society.
Multiple reports have revealed torture, inhumane conditions, and executions of POWs in captivity, while Ukraine also indicates minimal access to its POWs by the ICRC.
Petro Yatsenko, a representative of the Ukrainian Coordination Center for the Treatment of POWs, says there are "many things that the ICRC is currently unable to monitor within Russia."
While the ICRC claims to have paid over 3,000 visits to POWs on both sides, it never specifies how many of them were to see Ukrainian POWs in Russia, Yatsenko says, adding the number is "extremely low."
"This is a form of manipulation directed at both Ukrainian and international society," he says.
"We demand the ICRC recognize that they can not effectively carry out their mandate within Russia or in the detention facilities set up in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine," Yatsenko says.
According to the Ombudsman's office, Russia "fundamentally ignores" the mandates set by international humanitarian law for the ICRC and U.N. bodies, especially regarding the treatment of Ukrainian POWs and civilians in captivity.
"Despite having the authority, the ICRC and U.N. structures continue to demonstrate 'concern and a neutral approach,' which in practice equates to inertia, despite numerous calls from the Ukrainian side to intensify their activities," the Ombudsman's office said in a comment for the Kyiv Independent.
"Despite having the authority, the ICRC and U.N. structures continue to demonstrate 'concern and a neutral approach,' which in practice equates to inertia."
"It encourages Russia to disregard basic international norms," it added.
On Nov. 20, Ukraine presented the “Moscow Convention” campaign aimed at exposing Russia's systemic violations of the Geneva Conventions as well as drawing attention to the ICRC and the U.N.’s “neutral stance.”
Based on testimonies from former POWs and their families, the printed "Moscow Conventions" replicate the structure of the original Geneva Conventions but highlight the vastly different "standards" practiced by Russia, such as electric shock torture, physical and psychological abuse, sexual violence, and murder.
"Russians treat the Geneva Conventions as mere scraps of paper, something they can blatantly ignore and dismiss," Lubinets said during the presentation.
"Russians treat the Geneva Conventions as mere scraps of paper, something they can blatantly ignore and dismiss."
"Meanwhile, the ICRC has spent this entire time burying its head in the sand… not befitting for a professional organization that should be upholding its mandate with dignity,” he added.
Patrick Griffiths, the spokesperson for the ICRC delegation in Ukraine, says their neutrality is a tool that "works best" for them when it comes to reaching POWs on both sides.
"Every decision that we make about what we say or don't say, what we do or what we don't do in this armed conflict, the first thought we have is, will it help the people that our mandate is to help?" Griffiths says.
"And it's not in their interests for us to say something that risks losing the humanitarian access that we have limited though it already is, we acknowledge that," he says.
Although the ICRC wants to be able to visit every POW, it is the "obligation of the state" which holds them to grant access, which they can not enforce, Griffiths says.
Yatsenko, however, dismissed Griffiths’ arguments, calling them "excuses" that offer "no constructive solution."
"If we had seen a significant number of changes during these two and a half years of Russian aggression, and if these excuses influenced changes in access for the ICRC to places of detention, then it would be justified. But we do not see such changes," he says.
"Something needs to be changed here."
Are changes possible?
Even if Ukraine says a million times that it's not happy with the ICRC's work "it will not change anything," says Mikhail Savva, a legal expert from the Center for Civil Liberties, a Ukrainian human rights organization.
According to Savva, the biggest issue is that the 1949 Geneva Conventions do not provide any sanction tools; hence, they do not give the ICRC any "enforcement mechanisms."
"It is necessary to raise the issue that the Red Cross (ICRC), and not only it but Ukraine as a state, should have tools to compel any aggressor country to comply with the norms of international humanitarian law," Savva says.
Developing and signing an "additional protocol" to the Geneva Conventions is necessary for that, Savva says, adding that it should have the "same authority as the conventions and should take into account the three years of wartime experience."
Yet he says it would be impossible without the will of state parties to the Geneva Conventions, the same as removing Russia from the U.N. Security Council.
Oleksandr Pavlichenko, the Executive Director of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, believes that currently "there is neither a legal means nor political will" to strip Russia of its status in the Security Council.
"It would set a precedent for stripping a permanent member of the Security Council of that status. I believe other members, like the U.S., would not want to set such a precedent, as it could later lead to questions about potentially losing their own status, for example."
Savva agrees, saying that "under current legal conditions, this is practically impossible."
"It would mean dismantling the U.N. and creating other organizations. But would that impact the global situation?" he says, adding: "Russia would still have nuclear weapons and remain free from any restrictions altogether."
Kollen Post
