The Russian side suspended the exchange of prisoners of war in order to influence Ukrainian society and create the impression that the authorities are allegedly not dealing with this issue.
The Russian Federation has suspended prisoner exchanges
Petro Yatsenko, a representative of the Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War (CHTPOW), said that proposals are constantly being made to the Russians — systematic work is underway.
It makes no sense for Ukraine to keep Russian prisoners, the CHTPOW claims. Russia, for its part, suspended exchanges, thus trying to influence Ukrainian society.
They are trying to convince that, as they say, nothing is happening, look! But in fact, the work is going on, we are not sitting idly by, we are constantly working to organize the next exchanges," Yatsenko says.
Yatsenko recalled the creation of a mixed medical commission and headquarters with the International Committee of the Red Cross. Russia should take similar steps, but it is not doing it.
Yatsenko also informed that Ukraine sent an open letter on behalf of the CHTPOW Secretary, General Dmytro Usov.
We emphasize that Russia must also fulfill its international agreements and arrangements that they have signed. They constantly claim at the diplomatic level, in the UN, for example, that they comply with everything. We show that de facto no, nothing is happening," Petro Yatsenko said.
What is known about the POW exchange
Prisoner exchanges have been suspended since August 2023. On July 6, Ukraine returned 45 people from Russian captivity. Among them were defenders of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv and Kherson regions and two civilians.
On July 8, it was possible to return the commanders of the defence of Mariupol. Denys Prokopenko, Svyatoslav Palamar, Serhiy Volynskyi, Oleg Khomenko and Denys Shlega returned from Turkey, where they were after Russian captivity.
On August 7, Ukraine returned 22 Ukrainian soldiers, among whom were wounded, from Russian captivity. It was the 48th exchange. After that, there have been no exchanges.
On October 10, Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets wrote that Ukraine returned 2,598 service members and civilians.
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