Photo from UNIAN

The SBU head presented a collection of evidence gathered from the prisoners' testimonies of torture they had been subjected to during their illegal detention in Russian-occupied Donbas.

Head of the SBU Security Service of Ukraine Vasyl Hrytsak says a total of 3,224 prisoners of war (POWs) have been returned to Ukraine since the beginning of the war in Donbas, eastern Ukraine.

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"In 2014, the SBU created the Joint Center for the coordination of search and release of persons illegally deprived of liberty and hostages, and location of those declared missing in action across the zone of the Anti-Terrorist Operation [Joint Forces Operation] in the east of Ukraine," he said at the presentation of a set of prisoners' testimonies where they told of torture during their illegal detention in Russian-occupied Donbas.

"We managed to return or find a total of 3,224 prisoners of war, as a result of painstaking work by the Center, volunteers, military, prosecutors and other structures," the SBU head added.