Zelenskyy: Prisoner swaps have been complicated by Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the prisoner of war (POW) exchange process has been hampered by Russia for specific reasons, but he hopes that this pathway will open soon.

Source: Zelenskyy at his end-of-year press conference on 19 December

Quote: "You are right; the process (of bringing back prisoners of war) has been obstructed. It has indeed slowed down for some reasons on the part of the Russian Federation, but there are very specific reasons. This pathway will open."

Details: The president made it clear that we can expect to see a new round of prisoner swaps soon. "We are now working to bring back a fairly decent number of our guys. God willing, we will succeed," he said. 

Zelenskyy added that work on bringing back soldiers is ongoing. "As soon as we accumulate, if you’ll forgive me the language, the appropriate stockpile of enemy resources, we exchange them for our Ukrainian defenders... I really hope that our pathway will soon be activated," he stressed.

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