The Christmas and New Year period is often a time for friends and family to be reunited – but for nearly 100 political prisoners from Ukraine who are still held captive in Russia and Russian-occupied Ukrainian Crimea and Donbas, that won’t be possible this year.

Ukrainian political prisoners, including soldiers, civilians and sailors, who have been illegitimately held at prisons in Russia and its occupied territories, still hope to be released, but have no reliable means of communication with the outside world except through the sending and receiving of letters.