The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says it has registered hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners of war from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol.
Registration involves filling out a form with personal details like name, date of birth and closest relative – the information is used to track those who have been captured and helps the organisation keep in touch with families.
In a statement, the organisation says the registration process began on Tuesday and is ongoing.
It also says that the ICRC is not involved in transporting POWs to the places where they are held.
Under the Geneva Convention, the ICRC says, it must continue to have access to POWs and be allowed to interview them without witnesses, and the duration and frequency of visits “should not be unduly restricted”.
Russia says more than 900 Ukrainian fighters from the Mariupol steelworks have been taken to a former prison colony, in a Russian-controlled part of Donetsk.
