Not "large exchange", but repatriation: Ukraine's Ombudsman speaks of 800 injured soldiers who are now in Russia

During their meeting in Ankara, Dmytro Lubinets and Tatiana Moskalkova, Ukrainian and Russian Ombudsmen, were not discussing a "large exchange" of prisoners, but repatriation of heavily wounded servicemen, as well as the return of Ukrainian civilians, including children. 

Source: Lubinets in an interview with Radio Liberty

Quote: "In reality, there was no information of preparation for a large exchange as the result of our meeting [with Moskalkova – ed.]. The main aspect that was discussed is a possible return of heavily wounded servicemen, and prisoners of war from both sides.

This is called repatriation. It is clearly stated in the Geneva Convention. Article 110. What are we talking about? Repatriation is not an exchange. It is an actual return of injured, heavily injured prisoners of war without any conditions, without  any link to their quantity. 

We were talking about numbers during our negotiation. According to our data, about 800 heavily wounded soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are currently on the territory of the Russian Federation. According to the Russian side, 200 heavily wounded Russians are in Ukraine. So, those numbers were voiced out. 

But, like I said, this is not an exchange. This is repatriation."

Details: Lubinets explained that in his discussion with Moskalkova, they focused in the first place, on resolving humanitarian problems of the civilian population in Ukraine; this concerned children, documents and civilian captives, who were detained by the Russians en masse on the occupied territories. 

According to the Ukrainian Ombudsman, the location of more than 20,000 civilians, detained by Russia, remains unknown. 

Quote: "I've passed Moskalkova the first list of Ukrainian citizens that are de facto in Russian captivity; it includes around 2,000 Ukrainian citizens. These are elderly people, older than 65 and 70, that, in addition, are very ill: they are bedridden, lacking limbs, or are currently in heavy condition. So, the first list I’ve given to Moskalkova. Those are only civilians. 

As for the prisoners from the Armed Forces of Ukraine – I’ve given her [the] list, [too]. The first one contains 300 people that de jure are considered missing. De facto we presumed they were dead. 

This was a kind of a ‘test’ [list]. We did not expect any result. But we tried and worked through the lists. And so we received from her [Moskalkova – ed.] a list, indicating that out of 300, 23 are alive and remain captives. Some of them are injured. At this moment this is the official response of [my] Russian counterpart."

Details: Lubinets also added that, according to the "Dity Viiny" [Children of War] online platform, 14,350 children were transported to Russia. He urged citizens to contact the Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner, in case there are any facts of deportation of children to the Russian Federation.

Earlier: 

• Ukrainian and Russian Ombudsmen, Dmytro Lubinets and Tatiana Moskalkova met in Ankara on 16 January. Şeref Malkoç, Ombudsman of Turkey, announced that Ukraine and Russia were working on a major exchange, which could involve 1,000 people in total.
• On the other hand, Moskalkova stated that she did not discuss the exchange of prisoners of war with Lubinets, and that these issues were the competence of the Russian Defence Ministry.

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