Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on December 22, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Ukrainian President Zelenskiy confirmed that residents of a border village were taken to Russia by troops, despite years of peaceful interaction.
Dec 22 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that residents of a border village taken into Russia by Moscow's troops had interacted with their neighbours for years without incident.
Zelenskiy, addressing reporters at an event honouring Ukraine's diplomats, confirmed media reports that residents of Hrabovske village straddling the border in Sumy region and home to 52 people, were taken away by Russian troops.
"These 52 people who lived there and did not leave naturally carried on a dialogue of some sort with those on Russian territory," Zelenskiy said.
"They lived like this for many years. And I think they simply didn't expect Russian troops to simply walk in and take them away as prisoners. But that's what happened."
The Kremlin has not commented on the situation.
Zelenskiy said 13 Ukrainian servicemen were among those taken away.
"They could have killed the enemy right there from a distance with artillery or drones, but they didn't," he said. "They didn't because there were civilians there. They didn't want to kill civilians."
Ukrainian forces, he said, would restore their positions in the village.
"What we do next to have those people return, that is another matter," he said.
Russian forces have gained a foothold in Sumy region in recent months, seizing several villages near the border. Many areas of the region are subjected to frequent Russian shelling.
The head of the Sumy region military administration, Oleh Hryhorov, said on Sunday that authorities had begun evacuating residents of border villages who had earlier refused to be moved.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleksandr KozhukharEditing by Rod Nickel)
A prisoner of war is a combatant who is captured and held by an enemy during an armed conflict, often subject to specific legal protections under international law.
Civilian protection in warfare refers to the legal and ethical obligation to safeguard non-combatants from harm during armed conflicts, ensuring their safety and well-being.
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