Exchange of prisoners of war with Russia is frozen – Headquarters for Prisoners

Russia and Ukraine have effectively stopped exchanging prisoners of war. The last message regarding exchange was published on the telegram channel of the Ukrainian PoW coordination headquarters on 7 August. 

Source: Petro Yatsenko, head of the press service of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War; Current Time

Details: Yatsenko said that 22 Ukrainian soldiers returned home in August. Previously, exchanges took place almost every month. 

He noted that the Ukrainian side is ready to exchange prisoners of war, as we have a lot of them: "Our detention centres are filling up, and we don't need to keep these Russian prisoners of war. We would be happy to exchange them even as early as tomorrow for our defenders."

Yatsenko added that the conditions in which our defenders are being held in Russia are much worse than the conditions we offer as a European country that adheres to the Third Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

Quote: "The reasons may also be that Russia is trying to undermine Ukrainian society, trying to convince the relatives of prisoners of war that exchanges are not taking place because of obstacles on the Ukrainian side. It is calling for some kind of mass action. In this way, they are using prisoners of war as more leverage on Ukrainians.

We are not sitting idly by, we are constantly trying to work actively. The Coordination Headquarters under the leadership of Kyrylo Budanov is trying to find different arguments to make this process go ahead and get our people back. There are various options we are working on, and the process is constantly ongoing."

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