Ukrainian diplomats are providing legal and medical assistance to the Ukrainian citizens detained in Libya, Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Nina Karpachova said.
"Our diplomats have visited the places where the Ukrainian citizens are kept […] They are giving legal and medical assistance to them," Karpachova told a press conference in Kyiv on Friday, September 16.
Karpachova reiterated that the situation with the detention of Ukrainian citizens in Libya is "dramatic" and she is being contacted by the detainees’ relatives.
The ombudsman said she has met with the ambassador of Libya to Ukraine and the ambassador of Ukraine to Libya. "We have denied the rumors that 11 our citizens have been executed by shooting," she said.
According to earlier reports, 23 Ukrainian citizens (civilian specialists who had come to Libya to work on the country’s oil industry objects) have been detained in Libya.
The Croatian media have reported that 11 Ukrainian mercenaries had been executed in Misrata, Libya. However, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has denied this information.
