The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) did not allow the head of the centre for the release of prisoners "Officers' Corps", Volodymyr Ruban, to visit the occupied areas of Donetsk Region, he said in a comment for the publication InfoResist.
Ruban stressed that he has not violated the regulations on crossing the line of contact and always crossed into through the official checkpoint whenever he went to Donetsk. Now his annual pass has been cancelled.
"I'm too old and not in the status to take secret paths," he said.
SBU spokeswoman Olena Hitlyanska on Facebook has confirmed that the security agency has cancelled the permit allowing Ruban to cross the contact line.
Earlier in the day, Ruban was held and questioned at the checkpoint Maryinka in Donetsk Region. The authorities cited an earlier violation of the established regulations on crossing the contact line in the ATO zone.
In a comment to Interfax-Ukraine, Hitlyanska said that Nadiya Savchenko will also be invited for an interview on the subject.
On 24 February, Savchenko and Ruban visited a penal colony in occupied Makiyivka where Ukrainian prisoners of war are held. Later, Savchenko told reporters that she had knowingly taken the risk of her life to free the prisoners and asked for support.
Earlier, the SBU said that Ruban has no authority to negotiate the release of prisoners.