Attempts by the Russian Federation to shift the blame to Ukraine for the failure of the next exchange are complete propaganda, the Ombudsman believes.
If Russia was interested in the return of its prisoners of war, an exchange in the format “all for all” would have taken place long ago. Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets said this during the Summit in Switzerland on Saturday, June 15, Ukrinform writes.
“As someone who is constantly involved in these processes, I can confirm that Ukraine has never refused to exchange prisoners of war.
If the Russians were interested in returning their prisoners of war, we would have done it a long time ago. It’s like they just don’t need their prisoners,” he said.
Lubinets said that he personally repeatedly appealed – through intermediaries and directly – for the Russian Federation to transfer the bodies of dead heroes and heroines to Ukraine. He also mentioned that there is still no information about the plane where the Ukrainian prisoners of war were allegedly taken, and where Ukraine was allegedly shot.
“If they claim that our heroes were killed, please hand over the bodies to us. If the Russians are interested in a clear investigation into this incident, they, first, will immediately allow international experts to the area of the crash of this plane, and secondly, they will long ago allow international experts to participate in the examinations, and thirdly, they will hand over the bodies as soon as possible,” the ombudsman said.
At the same time, the representative of the Verkhovna Rada pointed out the similarity of the situation with the mass killing of Ukrainian captives in Olenovka.
“This, I think, is the same attempt to discredit Ukraine on the part of the Russian Federation, which we already saw in the summer of 2022, when the Russians killed prisoners of war in Olenovka it happened with the help of weapons transferred to us by international partners: in Olenivtsi it is Himars, in the plane it is Patriot,” he said.
According to the Ombudsman, several countries are helping Ukraine on the issue of prisoner of war exchange. He also expressed hope that there will be more interested parties in the exchange of prisoners.
We remind you that Ukraine returned 75 citizens from captivity in Russia, including 71 military personnel. All those who returned from captivity in Russia spoke of torture. About a third of them were injured and seriously injured.
The Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmitry Lubinets officially appealed to the Russian Ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova about the opening of criminal proceedings against Russian soldiers who abused prisoners of war in Ukraine.
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.