Ukraine says it has begun talks with Russia over the exchange of prisoners captured by Kyiv as it presses on with its startling counter-incursion in the Kursk region, Financial Times reports.
Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian parliament’s human rights commissioner, told local media on Wednesday evening that his Russian counterpart had contacted him to open discussions on the exchange of prisoners of war.
Ukraine’s military intelligence, which leads negotiations on prisoners of war, confirmed to the Financial Times that it was working on an exchange.
Russian officials previously indicated that Moscow might move to suspend prisoner exchanges. But Lubinets said his talk with his Russian counterpart Tatyana Moskalkova had given him hope that the warring sides could move forward with them soon.
“There was a proactive conversation [with our] Russian counterpart on this issue,” he said, adding that Moscow and Kyiv were “exchanging information” about each others’ prisoners.
“We have priority categories that we are ready to exchange. First of all, these are the seriously wounded,” he said. “Secondly, Ukrainian women, and thirdly, all those who remain in captivity.”
Lubinets said that he had informed the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross that “the rights of Russian prisoners of war are being protected and at any time Ukraine is ready to continue exchange processes based on the Geneva Convention”.
