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Ukrainian soldier in Kyiv
Photo: ZURAB KURTSIKIDZE / EPA
The Ukrainian government is making a remarkable appeal to the families of Russian soldiers who have been taken prisoner: mothers to pick up their children in Kyiv, according to a Facebook post published by Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko.
In return, the soldiers are to be released from captivity: "It was decided to hand over captured Russian soldiers to their mothers when they come to Ukraine to pick them up in Kyiv," Herashchenko wrote on Facebook.
The post includes three phone numbers that women can call to find out if their sons are "captive of war or killed."
The mothers can also contact the Ukrainian military via a channel on the messaging service Telegram or an email address.
From Russia and Belarus via Poland to Kyiv
If a son is actually in Ukrainian captivity, the women should come to Kyiv.
Herashchenko's post also contains precise information on this: "After the invasion of the fascist Putin army and the blocking of airspace," it says, the women should first go to Kaliningrad or Minsk in Poland and then "take buses or taxis" to the border embark
After crossing the border into Ukraine, "you will be picked up and taken to Kyiv, where your son will be handed over to you."
It is questionable whether this will still be possible in view of the intensified Russian attack on the capital.
Perhaps the action is more of an attempt to open the eyes of a broader Russian public to what is happening in Ukraine via the mothers of the soldiers.
After all, the fight takes place not only in cities and villages, in fields and airports.
The dispute over the sovereignty of interpreting the events of the war is also important.
The fact that the call could be part of a public relations campaign by the Ukrainian leadership is also supported by the fact that the post does not contain any more precise information about a possible return trip to Russia.
“Unlike Putin's fascists, we Ukrainians don't fight with mothers and their captured children.
We're waiting for you in Kyiv," it says there only - combined with the appeal to share the information as often as possible in Russia.
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