Another exchange of prisoners of war between Ukraine and Russia was supposed to take place on January 24. Our country fulfilled all the agreements: the Russian prisoners were delivered on time to the designated safe point for exchange. However, Ukraine was not informed by the Russian Federation about the number of vehicles, routes and forms of delivery of Ukrainian prisoners.
Ukraine was ready to exchange prisoners.
There was supposed to be an exchange of prisoners today, but it didn't happen.
This is reported by the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) in Telegram.
According to the Russian side, this happened as a result of the Russian Il-76 plane crash, which was allegedly transporting our prisoners, the DIU reports.
DIU does not have reliable and comprehensive information about who was on board the plane and in what number.
For its part, Ukraine has fulfilled all agreements for the preparation of the exchange. Russian captured servicemen were delivered on time to the agreed point for exchange, where they were safe, the DIU said.
According to the agreements, the Russian side had to ensure the safety of the defenders of Ukraine. At the same time, Ukraine was not informed about the need to ensure the safety of the airspace in the city of Belgorod for a certain period, as was repeatedly done in the past.
Ukraine was not informed about the number of vehicles, routes and forms of delivery of prisoners. It is known that prisoners are delivered by air, rail and road transport, the report says.
This may indicate deliberate actions by Russia aimed at creating a threat to the life and safety of prisoners. Landing a transport aircraft in a 30-kilometre war zone cannot be safe and must be discussed by both sides in any case because otherwise, it puts the entire exchange process at risk.
Based on this, we may be talking about planned and deliberate actions of the Russian Federation with the aim to destabilise the situation in Ukraine and to weaken the international support of our state, the DIU summarises.
A POWs exchange was being prepared On January 24,
On January 24, an exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine was to take place. Andriy Yusov, a DIU representative, confirmed this.
I can state that the exchange planned for today is currently not taking place, Yusov said.
According to him, the information voiced by the Russian side that prisoners of war could be in the Il-76 plane that crashed in the Belgorod region is currently being checked.
