Ukrainian Special Operations Forces confirmed that two individuals captured by LPR are their employees
The Ukrainian military members, detained by the LPR and accused of killing the so-called head of the People's Militia of the Republic, Oleg Anashchenko, are servicemen from the Special Operations Forces (SOF) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as reported by the press service of the SOF.
"On March 10, 2017, the representatives of the so-called MGB (Ministry of the State Security) of the self-proclaimed republic, which controls a part of the Luhansk region of our state, posted a video of the interrogation of the military, who are intelligence officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Unlike the representatives of the Russian Federation, we do not abandon our guys," the message says.
Previously the press center of the headquarters of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported that on February 11, 2017, communication was lost with intelligence officers who were carrying out operations along contact line in the Luhansk region.
The SOF took a number of steps in an attempt to find its servicemen, but they were unsuccessful.
"The video from March 10th made confirmed that our servicemen are alive and have been captured by the pro-Russian separatist forces," the press service of the SOF stated.
The SOF Command pointed out that "representatives of the special services of another country [Russia] and the pro-Russian separatists, subordinate to them, are handling their captives according to their “usual methods”. Physical torture and psychological pressure, psychotropic substances, and demeaning treatment are common elements of the interrogations used by pro-Russian separatists to force the prisoners to admit to committing acts that they had nothing to do with."
"These soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out special reconnaissance in certain areas. These tasks are not related to subversive activities and do not pose a threat to the civilian population, but are carried out in extremely tense situation of the armed confrontation between groups within the self-proclaimed republic," the report says.
The Command of the Special Operations Forces of Ukraine has also initiated an appeal to international human rights organizations with a request to ensure the observance of human rights and the prompt return of the servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine back home.
"We insist on an independent medical examination with the involvement of international experts to assess and monitor the physical and mental condition of the intelligence officers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, who are being held hostage. We ask that separate testing be conducted to identify the use of psychotropic substances on prisoners," the SOF statement reads.
Earlier, the LPR officials stated that "the direct executor of the murder of Oleg Anashchenko is the chief of the engineering service of the 8th special purpose regiment of the Special Operations Forces of Ukraine, Major Serhiy Ivanchuk." They also published a series of video recordings with confessions supposedly made by the military.