Yet the only international organization he should have been able to rely on was never there for him."Not once did I see a representative of the Red Cross," Kolesnykov, now 47, told the Kyiv Independent. Like Kolesnykov, most Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) have never been visited by the representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) while in Russian captivity, says Ukraine's Human Rights Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets. Upon their release, numerous Ukrainian POWs revealed the horrific conditions they had endured in Russian prisons, facing near starvation, torture, and humiliation. A Ukrainian soldier, who was previously held captive by Russian forces, shows a picture of himself prior to captivity, while undergoing rehabilitation in an unnamed location, Ukraine on June 6, 2024.