Russia accuses Ukraine of blocking prisoner exchange in attempts to discredit it – ISW

Russia is actively conducting discrediting campaigns against the Ukrainian authorities, trying to sow distrust among citizens in the government and portray Ukraine as a country that is allegedly avoiding negotiations on the exchange of prisoners of war.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that.

On November 27, Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, stated that Russia was ready to exchange 630 Ukrainian prisoners of war in a "one-for-one" format. In response, on December 2, the Russian Ombudsman, Tatyana Moskalkova, published a list of these individuals and claimed that Ukraine had refused the exchange proposed by Russia.

However, on December 3, Brigadier General Dmytro Usov, Secretary of the Coordination Staff and Deputy Head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, denied these statements. He noted that the Russian side had not submitted any official requests for the exchange. The general also said that the names published by Russia include civilians as well as prisoners of war whom Ukraine has already returned home. Usov stressed that Moscow is likely trying to discredit Ukrainian state authorities.

"A Russian insider source similarly noted on November 29 and December 3 that Zakharova's and Moskalkova's statements about Russia's alleged willingness to conduct a large POW exchange are an attempt to present the false narrative that Ukrainian leadership is unwilling to negotiate to Ukraine's Western partners and allies, while falsely portraying Russia as the party interested in negotiations," he notes.

ISW experts note that such actions by the Kremlin are likely aimed at diverting attention from Russia's efforts to disrupt the prisoner exchange process and from ongoing reports of human rights violations in Russia, including the executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war.

"Russia — not Ukraine — has previously demonstrated an unwillingness to conduct POW exchanges, as Russia reportedly rebuffed Ukrainian overtures for exchanges for months before the start of Ukraine's offensive in the Kursk region in August 2024," the report reads.

Key ISW findings:

• Russia is evacuating naval assets from its base in Tartus, Syria, which may suggest that Russia does not intend to send significant reinforcements to support Syrian President Bashar al Assad's regime in the near term.
• The US announced additional military assistance worth $725 million for Ukraine on December 2.
• Russian officials continue to perpetuate information operations about prisoner-of-war (POW) exchanges to portray Ukraine as unwilling to negotiate and to undermine Ukrainians' trust in their government.
• India is reportedly attempting to decouple its defense industry from Russia as it increases cooperation with Western defense companies and builds up its own defense industrial base (DIB).
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced in the Kursk region and regained lost positions near Kupiansk. Russian forces recently advanced near Toretsk, Pokrovsk, and Velyka Novosilka.
• Russian forces reportedly continued to suffer significant personnel and armored vehicle losses throughout November 2024 as they attempted to maintain intensified offensive operations in eastern Ukraine.

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It is worth adding that through Qatar, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, received lists of Ukrainian service members who went missing, as well as letters from prisoners of war.

The Ministerial Conference on the Human Dimension of the Peace Formula was also held in Montreal. The participants approved the Joint Communiqué. The participating states undertook to facilitate the return of all captured and deported Ukrainian citizens.

It should be noted that on October 18, 95 Ukrainian servicemen, among whom were Azovstal defenders and the well-known human rights activist Maksym Butkevych, returned home from Russian captivity. This was the 58th exchange of prisoners of war that Ukraine conducted in the "95 for 95" format.