Ukraine and russia are discussing large-scale exchange of prisoners: about 1,000 people might be exchanged

Ukraine and russia are working on a large-scale exchange of prisoners. During the meeting of the ombudsmen of Ukraine and russia in Turkey, the parties presented lists of people for exchange: Ukraine — with 800 people, the russian federation — with 200.

CNN reports this, Rubryka writes.

In total, 8 meetings of representatives of Ukraine and russia took place in Turkey, organized by the office of the Turkish Ombudsman Şeref Malkoç: four — chaired by Malkoç and four — in a bilateral format.

As noted, at the beginning of the first meeting of the Turkish Ombudsman with Dmytro Lubinets and Tetyana Moskalkova, the russian Ombudsman told the Ukrainian side: "You are the cause of the war; we could have come to an agreement. The West has spoiled you." Because of this, the Turkish Ombudsman had to intervene.

During the meetings, the Ukrainian and russian sides presented each other with lists for exchange. However, the Ombudsman of Turkey urged to move slowly and create a "humanitarian corridor" for:

• wounded,
• elderly people
• women,
• children, etc.

In total, Ukraine put on the table an exchange list of 800 people, russia —200. At the end of the negotiations, an agreement in principle was reached on about 40 changes in the lists, most of which related to the wounded.

Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said that during the meeting, it was possible to force russia to recognize the need to return seriously injured people to Ukraine without any conditions, as required by Art. 110 of the Geneva Convention. Lubinets emphasized that it is not about exchange but repatriation.

"We explained it to the russian side. I won't say that they have already agreed and are starting to implement it, but they have admitted that it really is in the Geneva Convention," Lubinets said.

According to him, negotiations are ongoing on releasing Ukrainian civilians who have been in russian captivity since 2014. There are currently 377 people on this list.

In addition, Lubinets raised the issue of rescuing kremlin political prisoners, including 158 Ukrainians, most of them Crimean Tatars.

Reference

Today, putin had a phone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In particular, they discussed the exchange of prisoners between Ukraine and the russian federation.

Erdogan intends to discuss with Zelensky and putin the opening of a humanitarian corridor for the wounded.