Hub for ex-POWs Launches in Kyiv

At the initiative of Mariupol defenders, a special hub was opened in the capital city of Kyiv to help former prisoners of war, released from Russian captivity, to keep in touch with each other, receive counseling services and rehabilitation advice.

That’s according to the press service of the Coordination Headquarters for POW Treatment, Ukrinform reports.

YOUkraine is a space offering mutual support and assistance to servicemen who had gone through Russian prisons and are now trying to regain strength and get used to a normal life.

The founder of the YOUkraine Fund, Anna Murashenko, noted that in addition to government support that former POWs receive, they also deserve civic support, and therefore the NGO joined the initiative to create such a hub and took over organizational issues.

The hub will hire former POWs as it is the servicemen themselves, like no other, know that upon their return from Russian captivity, other trials await them, including socialization and rehabilitation issues.

Mariupol defenders Valeriy Subotin and Dmytro Andriushchenko, released from Russian captivity, said hubs like this are important for former POWs to be able to meet and share their experiences, as well as to get legal and psychological assistance from experts.

"The Coordination Headquarters is working to bring back home all Ukrainian heroes, but it is also important that the liberated heroes feel the attention and gratitude from our society, have the opportunity to get together in such spaces for communication and mutual support," said the head of Coordination HQ Secretariat, Bohdan Okhrymenko.

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The coordinator for the families of POWs, Viktoria Tsymbaliuk, noted that the Coordination HQ  supported this and similar initiatives involving self-organization of released POWs and their families.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, representatives from the International Committee of the Red Cross have visited detention centers for Russian POWs 478 times, and the UN monitoring mission has made 344 such visits.