The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Saturday the exchange of 63 Russian prisoners of war, for the second time this year, thanks to the mediation efforts of the United Arab Emirates, without specifying how many Ukrainian troops were sent to kyiv.
“As a result of a complex negotiation process, 63 soldiers of the Russian Armed Forces have returned from territories controlled by the kyiv regime,” it announced in a statement.
According to the Ministry of Defense, “at the moment, all the soldiers are on Russian territory” and “they were offered the necessary psychological and medical help, in addition to the possibility they were given to communicate with their family.”
“The group of released Russian servicemen includes people of ‘sensitive category’, whose exchange was made possible thanks to the mediation efforts of the United Arab Emirates authorities,” the ministry said, without elaborating.
On Wednesday, Russia’s ombudsman Tatiana Moskalkova accused the Ukrainian side of applying double standards to the prisoner exchange process by prioritizing “media figures” and blacking out rank-and-file soldiers and junior officers.
“For the Ukrainian authorities, political benefit is above mercy and humanism,” denounced the provider, while noting that this affects “the effectiveness of exchanges.”
In that sense, the Russian Ombudsman added that the exchange process is taking longer, which affects seriously wounded soldiers.
Source: TSF
