Ukraine pushes Russia for prisoner exchange transparency
The Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, is calling on Russia to provide lists of all Ukrainian prisoners of war who can be exchanged. Moscow accuses Kyiv of sabotaging the exchange process.
4 November 2024 06:57
Dmytro Lubinets contacted the Russian Human Rights Commissioner, Tatyana Moskalkova, requesting lists of Ukrainian prisoners ready for an urgent exchange.
"As the Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner, I would like to receive from the Russian Human Rights Commissioner (Tatyana Moskalkova) all the lists of Ukrainian prisoners of war that Russia is ready to urgently exchange!" wrote Lubinets on social media.
"Recently, the Russian side claimed that Ukraine 'does not consent' to the repatriation of some of its prisoners. Therefore, I am appealing to the Commissioner for these lists so that Ukrainian citizens can be handed over to me," he continued.
"We are always ready to conduct prisoner exchanges," he announced. He also emphasized that "usually these processes are hampered by Russia" and are used as a "method of influencing Ukrainian society."
Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Ukraine of refusing to accept some Ukrainian prisoners as part of the exchange. She added that in 2024, 279 Ukrainian prisoners were exchanged, although Moscow allegedly proposed the exchange of 935 people. She accused the Ukrainian side of "hindering exchange processes" and assessed that Kyiv is "politicizing" the issue.
