Ukraine denies Russiaʼs statements about unwillingness to exchange 70 prisoners

Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tetyana Moskalkova said that Ukraine allegedly refused to exchange 70 of its soldiers. According to her, the exchange was planned according to the formula 160 for 160, but then the figure was reduced to 90. She also made public a list with the names of these people.

The day before, on March 7, Ukraine returned 130 people during another exchange of prisoners.

The Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reported that the list made public by Moskalkova is rather strange, because it includes those people who have already returned from captivity.

The headquarters emphasizes that Moskalkova is not a subject of the negotiation process and has nothing to do with it.

"This is not the first time she has voiced theses, beneficial to Russian propaganda, which are designed to destabilize Ukrainian society. On the other hand, these theses are designed to justify the slow exchange process to the Russians. That is, the Russian PSYOP speaks through the mouth of Moskalkova," the Coordination Headquarters told "Hromadske".

In addition, Ukraine always takes everyone that Russia offers: both military and civilian.

"It is very difficult to communicate with them, they are enemies, and they do everything possible to slow down, and complicate exchange processes, and negotiations are very difficult. But we always strive to make the trades happen as often as possible and to bring back as many of our defenders as possible. We have an exchange fund to be able to exchange them," said a staff official

• On March 7, the 39th exchange of prisoners took place, a total of 1,993 people were returned.