Following accusations from Russia that Ukraine was obstructing the exchange process, Kiev urged Moscow on Sunday to submit a list of Ukrainian POWs who were prepared for a swap.
On his Telegram messaging channel, Ukrainian human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets wrote, “We are always ready to exchange prisoners of war!” in response to his Russian counterpart’s request for the list of Ukrainians.
In the years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbor in 2022, Kiev and Moscow have regularly traded prisoners. Each side brought home 95 inmates in the most recent exchange, which took place in mid-October.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed on Saturday that Ukraine has refused to repatriate its own citizens and was effectively sabotaging the process.
Russia’s defense ministry had promised to turn over 935 Ukrainian POWs, but Ukraine had only taken 279, according to Zakharova.
Lubinets responded by accusing Russia of impeding the exchange process and stating that Ukraine was always willing to accept its citizens.
Ukraine has “politicized” the issue, according to Tatyana Moskalkova, Russia’s human rights commissioner, who made this claim on Saturday.
As per Moskalkova’s Telegram post, “We consider it necessary to return to a constructive dialogue and speed up the exchange of prisoners.”
