The Defence of Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) representative, Andriy Yusov, answered how the Russian IL-76 crash could affect the prisoner exchange process. According to him, everything will depend on the adequacy of the Russian government.
What will happen to POWs exchange after the Il-76 crash
Andriy Yusov reminded that on January 24, when the plane crash happened in the Belgorod region, 50 prisoners were to be exchanged between Ukraine and the Russian Federation.
The DIU representative emphasised that Kyiv is interested and will insist on continuing this process.
However, what is important to understand is that the aggressor country again began to actively play its information propaganda games.
According to Andrii Yusov, the Ukrainian authorities will continue to work to ensure that such exchanges continue. But both parties should participate in this process.
Ukraine is interested in returning its defenders, we can and will return captured Russians. However, for this, Russia should not play information propaganda games, but work on the implementation of international humanitarian law, Yusov emphasised.
What is also important to understand, according to the Geneva Convention, prisoner exchanges take place after the end of hostilities, but official Kyiv manages to return prisoners during the active phase of the war.
Il-76 crash: DIU revealed new details
Ukrainian intelligence officers drew attention to the fact that no remains of human bodies are visible on the video from the plane crash site.
In addition, the DIU team managed to find out that only five corpses were brought to the local morgue in Belgorod the day before.
It is known from agency data, in particular, that only five bodies were brought to the Belgorod morgue as of yesterday. Actually, this number corresponds to the number of personnel of the crew, of the same Il-76 — the same aircraft that was part of the Russian Space Forces, — Andriy Yusov explained.
