Russia and Ukraine will carry out one of the biggest prisoner-of-war exchanges since the start of the conflict on Thursday and Friday, with each side taking 500 people. The agreement, announced by Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky, is the result of peace talks in Geneva in February.
Russia and Ukraine will exchange 500 prisoners of war each on Thursday and Friday. This was announced on Thursday afternoon by Vladimír Medinsky, the advisor to the Russian president and the Kremlin’s chief negotiator, according to whom the parties to the conflict agreed on this during the February negotiations in Geneva. TASR informs about it according to Reuters and TASS agencies.
- Russia and Ukraine agreed to exchange 500 prisoners of war each.
- Peace negotiations continue, but contentious issues, including the status of Donbass, remain unresolved.
- At the request of Hungary, Russia will release two captured Hungarian citizens with dual citizenship.
- Ukraine accused Hungary and Russia of cynically manipulating the issue of prisoners of war.
The exchange of prisoners continues
Russia’s Defense Ministry previously said the two sides had exchanged 200 prisoners each. According to him, mediation was provided by the USA and the United Arab Emirates.
Since the beginning of peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, both sides of the conflict have exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war in several rounds. Although negotiators report that the talks on ending the war are constructive, Kiev and Moscow still cannot agree on a solution to the remaining contentious issues. Among other things, Russia demands from Ukraine the withdrawal of the entire Donbas region, which the government in Kyiv refuses.
Russia releases two Hungarian prisoners
On Wednesday, Hungary also joined the negotiations on the release of prisoners of war without consulting Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Wednesday, after the visit of the head of Hungarian diplomacy in Moscow, that at the request of Budapest, two Hungarian citizens captured by the Russian army during the fighting in Ukraine will be released. According to the head of the Kremlin, these are persons who have both Ukrainian and Hungarian citizenship.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs subsequently accused Hungary and Russia of “manipulating the sensitive issue” of prisoners of war. According to the Department of Diplomacy, the Hungarian government is doing PR before the parliamentary elections.
