Ukraine and Russia conduct tense prisoner swap amid ongoing war

On Friday at the border with Belarus, there was the 56th exchange of prisoners between Ukraine and Russia. The Ukrainian side handed over 49 prisoners to the Russian side. In response, Russia also handed over the same number of prisoners to Ukraine, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed.

Russian prisoners arrived at one of the Ukrainian-Belarusian border crossings by bus and van. Ambulances accompanied the convoy, tasked with taking over the Ukrainian prisoners returning from Belarus. Ukrainian service and military formation vehicles were also involved in the exchange process.

Andriy Yusov, a representative of Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR), said in an interview with PAP that he could not confirm that the Russians exchanged on Friday were soldiers captured during the operations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Russian Kursk region. He explained, however, that "they are soldiers of the enemy army, the army of the aggressor state."

Asked about the course of negotiations with Russia regarding exchanging prisoners, Yusov revealed their difficult nature. He pointed out that Ukraine cannot rely on the support of international institutions established for this purpose.

— The talks about the exchange are very difficult because the aggressor state usually ignores international humanitarian law and often does not adhere to the Geneva Conventions. These talks are bilateral because the international institutions that are supposed to handle or support them simply do not do so — stated the HUR representative.

— These talks continue all the time, regardless of the situation and regardless of how sharp public statements might be. The work on subsequent exchanges continues all the time — he added.