'They are being tortured': Manitobans show support for Ukrainian POWS

The rally took place on Aug. 22, 2022 at the Manitoba Legislative Building. (Source: Jamie Dowsett/CTV News)

Manitobans came together on Monday to show their support for the Ukrainian soldiers who have been captured by Russian forces.

A group of people gathered at the Manitoba Legislative Building on Monday evening to stand in solidarity with the Ukrainian prisoners of war.

“We are here to advocate and to represent and to show the world to attempt to save the soldiers and the protectors of Ukraine who were captured by the Russian forces,” said Sofiia Lazarenko, who was at the rally.

“They are being tortured. They are being killed, despite the fact that at the beginning the Red Cross advocated for their safety.”

The Manitoba Council of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress organized the rally, which involved speeches speaking out against the upcoming show trials to prosecute the Ukrainian defenders of Mariupol.

The organizers of Monday’s event said the trials represent a violation of the United Nation’s Geneva Convention in terms of the treatment of prisoners of the war.

The rally ended with a march to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

Lazarenko said some of her family members are soldiers who have been captured, describing the situation as “terrifying.”

“We know nothing of what is going on,” she said.