Petro Yatsenko, the head of press service of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, explained to online.ua why the process of returning our soldiers from Russian captivity is extremely complicated and time-consuming.
Why is it not possible to return Ukrainian prisoners quickly?
In Ukraine, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War was established in March 2022.
It is important to understand that Russia does not have such a structure at all, so the process of negotiating an exchange is extremely complicated.
It's hard, it's unpleasant. And negotiating with such an opposing party is always very, very difficult.
In addition, it is emphasised that each exchange is a unique success of our entire society, all the people of the Coordination Headquarters and the specialists involved. All the government agencies involved.
This is a complex process that is handled by professionals. It happens that families start telling us that someone has written to them: "Pay the money and we will bring your loved one back". These are fraudsters who, unfortunately, will only take your money. And such efforts, attempts to negotiate, can only harm large-scale exchanges.
Why local prisoner exchanges hurt larger exchanges
According to Petro Yatsenko, the small, insignificant exchanges that take place during the hostilities, the so-called field exchanges, do not resolve the situation at all, because it is a small number of people who return from the other side.
For the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the process of returning at least a hundred of our prisoners every month is extremely important.
And we have to understand that no matter how inhuman the Russian authorities are, this process is still going on, and one way or another, the pressure is also increasing. Therefore, we cannot say that we are the only instrument of Russian influence. Similarly, the Russians must understand that ‘this stick has two ends’ [a proverb that tells about looking at different perspectives — ed.].
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