Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register KIEV, June 11 (Reuters) – Ukraine is doing everything possible to rescue three foreign nationals sentenced to death by proxy authorities in Donbas for fighting for Ukraine, a member of Ukraine’s parliamentary security and defense committee said on Saturday. Following their arrest, two Britons and a Moroccan were convicted on Thursday by a court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), whose separatist leaders are backed by Moscow for “mercenary activities”. read more “Both the Ministry of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency, which deals with the exchange of detainees, are taking all necessary measures to ensure that these foreign nationals … are rescued,” lawmaker Fedir Venislavski told national television. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register He did not give further details. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said she believed the separatist authorities would eventually act rationally, “because they are well aware of the irreparable consequences for them and for the Russians if they take the wrong measures against these three of our soldiers.” “Something tells me that, one way or another, sooner or later, these three soldiers will be exchanged (or else they will get home),” he said in an online post on Saturday. Britain has condemned the militants as a “gross violation” of the Geneva Conventions, under which prisoners of war are entitled to combat immunity and should not be prosecuted for involvement in hostilities. read more Ukraine, which rejected the Donetsk court ruling as unauthorized, says the fighters had signed contracts with the Ukrainian armed forces. As a result, “the status of prisoners of war under international law applies fully to them. We will take all necessary measures to save them,” said lawmaker Venislavsky. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Natalia Zinets. Writes Alessandra Prentice. Edited by Clelia Ozel Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
