Russia illegally holds 46 Ukrainian servicemen, five of them charged with shelling of Russian territory - NSDC

Five Ukrainian servicemen who are held in Russia have been charged with the shelling of Russian territory, National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) information and analytical center spokesman Andriy Lysenko has said.

"Eighteen Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen and 28 border guards are still held in Russia. All this time Russian investigators have wrested an admission of guilt from the Ukrainians that they deliberately fired at Russian territory. According to operational information, five of our servicemen have been charged with this. They have been arrested and taken into police custody," he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.

He said that Ukrainian military were demanding a meeting with Ukrainian diplomats.

Lysenko also said that Ukraine's consul general in Rostov-on-Don had tried to meet with the Ukrainians and clarify grounds for their detention.

"However, the Russian side has unlawfully rejected the meeting, thus grossly violating the norms of international law," he said.