Ukraine to create mixed medical commissions to facilitate prisoner exchange

Ukraine has started forming mixed medical committees. These committees are established based on the Geneva Convention, which deals with prisoners' treatment during the war. This move is aimed at facilitating the exchange of prisoners with Russia.

Andrii Yusov, the representative of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, reports that this is the third time in world history that such an initiative is implemented. Ukraine hopes the mixed medical commissions will help liberate Ukrainian prisoners and the Russians will return theirs.

According to the Geneva Convention, mixed medical commissions must have three members. Two of them are citizens of a neutral country, and the detaining state appoints the third.

Nominations of neutral commission members must be approved by the parties to the conflict, who notify the International Committee of the Red Cross and the sponsoring state of their consent. Preferably, one of the neutral members should be a surgeon and the other a physician.

Such a mixed commission should examine prisoners of war and make proposals for their repatriation. The detaining state is obliged to implement the decision of the mixed medical commissions within three months of notification.

The Coordination Headquarters emphasized that Ukraine had quickly returned seriously wounded Russians. As a result of the negotiations, it was already possible to return almost 2,600 Ukrainian military and civilians from Russian captivity. 

In the future, the return of the wounded should not take place on the basis of exchange negotiations but with the help of mixed medical commissions, says the representative of the Coordinating Staff for the Treatment of Prisoners of War Yurii Taraniuk.

Currently, the commissions are being staffed on the Ukrainian side. Taraniuk noted that this was Ukraine's first experience, and many legal issues needed to be resolved.

"As I understand it, two commissions will be created to examine the Russians, a total of six people. The commission will determine the condition and diagnosis of the prisoner. If the Russian Federation agrees, it may also recommend repatriating or sending prisoners for treatment to a neutral country. Also, repatriation is possible only with the prisoner's consent," he told Ukraine's national broadcaster Suspilne.

Exchange of Prisoners with Russia

Since the beginning of the full-scale war, Ukraine and Russia have regularly exchanged prisoners of war. For example, in April, the head of Ukraine's Defense Intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said the parties are discussing the possibility of exchanging prisoners "all for all."

According to Andrii Yusov, the intelligence representative, the country is working on organizing new exchanges of prisoners of war with the aggressor country.

"As of now, 48 exchanges have already taken place, and 2,598 captured defenders and civilians have been returned from Russian captivity. Work on the next ones is ongoing. We expect that in the near future, there will be good news for the families of our defenders," he said.

Yusov also said that among the Russian prisoners of war, some people wanted to go over to the side of Ukraine. At the same time, he did not specify the number of these prisoners but noted that among them were representatives of both junior and senior officers.

The last such exchange took place on August 7. In the course of it, 22 soldiers returned home, including two officers, private and non-commissioned officers.

According to the data of the Unified Register, approximately 24,000 Ukrainians are missing.