Mothers and wives of Azovstal defenders met with Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople

Baku/21.05.22/Turan: As part of their mission to Istanbul, the mothers and wives of the defenders of Azovstal met with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on Friday, they handed him a note with the names of the Ukrainian defenders for his personal prayer and received a blessing.

Also on this day, they announced their intention to create a committee to protect the rights of Ukrainian servicemen:

"We are creating a Public committee for the protection of the rights of Ukrainian servicemen who were captured. His task is to seek the speedy return of our husbands and sons to Ukraine and to protect their rights provided for by international conventions, which the Russian Federation has pledged to fulfill.

We will use appeals to the media, state leaders, as well as moral and religious leaders in our work.

We plan to get in touch with the Russian committee of soldiers' mothers to join forces in protecting the rights of our sons and husbands," the statement reads.