Russia and Ukraine conduct prisoner swap of under 25s
Russia and Ukraine have conducted another prisoner exchange, swapping soldiers who are under 25 years of age, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced on Monday.
In a statement on its official Telegram channel, the Defense Ministry reported that the first group of servicemen have been returned from territories controlled by Kiev.
“In exchange, a similar number of prisoners of war of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were transferred,” the ministry said.
The Russian servicemen are currently receiving necessary psychological and medical assistance in Belarus, according to the ministry, and will soon be returned home for treatment and rehabilitation
Moscow and Kiev had agreed to exchange certain categories of captives, including those who are seriously injured, ill, or are under the age of 25, during last week’s round of direct negotiations in Istanbul.
Russia also announced that it would return the bodies of over 6,000 Ukrainian soldiers in a unilateral humanitarian gesture. On Saturday, Moscow tried to transfer 1,212 bodies to the Ukrainian side, but Kiev’s representatives failed to show up at the exchange point.
Ukrainian officials have explained the refusal by claiming that they hadn’t agreed on the date of the transfer and have accused Moscow of using humanitarian issues for informational purposes.
Moscow has slammed Kiev’s refusal to accept the bodies, with Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claiming that the Ukrainian leadership “does not need its people, neither dead nor alive,” and is “committing genocide” against its own population.
Dmitry Belik – a member of the Russian parliament’s International Affairs Committee – has also suggested to RT that one of the reasons for Kiev’s refusal to take back the bodies of its soldiers could be Ukraine’s unwillingness to pay compensation to their families.
Vladimir Zelensky’s government had previously announced that the families of fallen Ukrainian soldiers could apply for a one-time compensation payment of approximately $367,000.
