Savchenko published "incorrect" POW lists, - Tandit

Yurii Tandit, a representative of the Security Service special center on hostage release, says the lists of POWs and MIAs published by Nadiia Savchenko are "incorrect" and may harm the families of captives.

Сensor.NET reports citing BBC Ukraine.

Earlier on Tuesday, Nadiia Savchenko published lists of Ukrainian hostages held by the self-styled "Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics."

"I asked Nadiia not to do this. During the conversation, she got me right," Tandit said.

He claims the lists are "incorrect" in many aspects.

"The lists contain information about our guys. But preliminary analysis indicates they are incorrect," the SBU representative added.

According to him, the publication will not help speed up the release of POWs.

"The negotiations used to be efficient when they weren't about hype and fuss. Decisions on exchange are taken by specific people in Russia and have nothing to do with lists," Tandit went on.

He says scammers have obtained personal data of many Ukrainian hostages and will be able to blackmail their relatives by demanding a ransom.

"In my experience, the publication of such lists made it possible for rascals to enrich themselves," the official explained.

According to Tandit, scammers call relatives as if on behalf of militants and promise to release a person for money.

"Now crooks got surnames, names, patronymics and dates of birth. With the help of phone books, they can find families and demand ransoms," he said.

Tandit promised the SBU will come up with a detailed official position regarding the released lists. Asked if Savchenko would face punishment for the publication, he said he could not comment so far. He also refused to talk about the alleged list of Russian captives in Ukraine unveiled by Savchenko as well.