Ukraine is filling third camp for PoW swaps – Ukraine's Human Rights Commissioner
Ukraine has captured a sufficient quantity of Russian troops to exchange them for Ukrainian defenders. At the same time Russia opposes the idea of an all-for-all exchange, specifically when it comes to the defenders of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
Source: Dmytro Lubinets, Human Rights Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, as reported by Ukrinform
Details: Lubinets stated that even though Russia has more prisoners of war at the moment, the situation is changing in favour of Ukraine. Dmytro Lubinets notes that Ukraine has piled up "a big exchange bank".
"We are filling the third camp for Russian prisoners of war and started repairing the fourth one. So if the Russians had wanted it [an all-for-all swap], we would have long brought back all our people. But this doesn’t happen solely due to Russia’s disinclination," Lubinets explained.
Russia’s unwillingness to agree to exchanges becomes especially acute when it concerns soldiers of the 36th Marine Brigade, the members of which defended the city of Mariupol from the Russian troops at the beginning of the full-scale war.
"I have to admit that the Russians are very reluctant to release the defenders of Mariupol from captivity. In the beginning we saw how they held demonstrative trials for the members of the National Guard of Ukraine, and now they’re doing something similar to the prisoners of war from the 36th Marine Brigade.
They gathered them in one penitentiary where the conditions are extremely bad, many of Ukrainian soldiers are being tortured, and our marines get huge prison sentences," Lubinets added.
He stated that Ukraine is focused on bringing back severely injured soldiers and female soldiers.
"The two criteria, established by the Geneva Convention, are a priority for me when it comes to bringing the PoWs from Russia.
Firstly, these are severely injured soldiers, secondly – women. As of now we have managed to bring back 198 women but over 400 still remain in Russian captivity," Lubinets said
Background: According to the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner of Ukraine, Russia forcibly holds over 14,000 Ukrainian civilians. Bringing this category of prisoners of war back is harder than reaching an agreement on releasing children and soldiers.
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