Ukraine has rejected claims by the Russian Foreign Ministry that it did not want back hundreds of prisoners of war proposed for exchange. “We are ready to carry out an exchange of prisoners of war at any time! We adhere to the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law!” This was announced by the responsible Ukrainian human rights officer Dmytro Lubinez on Telegram. “As a rule, these processes are slowed down by the Russian Federation. And she uses this as a method to influence Ukrainian society!”
Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, had previously stated in a hastily convened video link with correspondents from several countries on Saturday afternoon that Russia had recently proposed 935 Ukrainian prisoners of war for exchange. However, Kiev only wanted 279 prisoners from the list back, including, according to Russian information, mainly ultranationalist fighters. Zakharova claimed that the remaining 650-plus men were not deemed “worthy” by Kiev or were even labeled as traitors.
Zakharova accuses Ukrainian Foreign Minister of “political tourism”.
Zakharova accused Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha of “political tourism” because he repeatedly used the issue of prisoners of war as an opportunity to travel abroad to stir up sentiment against Moscow. She emphasized that Russia has always implemented prisoner exchanges with the mediation of other states and is willing to continue to do so.
It is essentially the last format in which Moscow and Kiev still have contact. In Kiev, Commissioner Lubinets asked Moscow to provide the lists of prisoners.
In the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, which has been going on for more than two and a half years, thousands of families are waiting for their relatives to return from captivity. Both warring parties had already exchanged prisoners in several actions – thousands in total so far. It is unclear how many prisoners both sides currently have.
