There is preliminary agreement with Russia that prisoner exchanges will become systematic in 2025 - Lubinets
Exchanges of prisoners of war and civilians between Russia and Ukraine in 2025 should be systematic.
This was stated by the Ombudsman of Ukraine Dmytro Lubinets in an interview with the Rada TV channel, Censor.NET reports.
According to him, he reached such an agreement during one of his meetings with Russian Ombudsman Tatiana Moskalkova.
He also hopes that the Russian side will keep its word on this issue.
Currently, there is a preliminary agreement that exchanges in 2025 should become systematic, with the priority of returning primarily seriously ill and seriously wounded. It was also agreed that each Ukrainian prisoner of war and civilian hostage will receive a package of belongings from Ukraine with the help of the ICRC. We will see whether the Russian side will keep its word," Lubinets said.
The ombudsman also said that for the first time since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, it was recorded that seriously ill and severely wounded prisoners will be returned from captivity first. Then will come those who spent the most time in captivity.
"This is also the first time we have been able to document that we are forming lists based primarily on physical health. That is, the severely wounded and seriously ill are returned first. And the last principle is the principle of justice. The one who stays in captivity longer gets out earlier," Lubinets summarized.
As a reminder, on December 30, 189 citizens were released and returned to Ukraine from Russian captivity. The Coordination Headquarters stated that this was one of the largest exchanges since the full-scale invasion of Russia. Two Ukrainian civilians captured by Russia in Mariupol were also exchanged.
