Ukraine unilaterally handed over seriously injured prisoners to Russia

Ukraine unilaterally handed over to Russia all seriously injured prisoners whose condition permitted their transport. The Ukrainian Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reports this on its Telegram channel.

The headquarters stressed that it was not a question of exchange of prisoners, but “of repatriation: the return of seriously injured prisoners without any conditions, as provided for by international humanitarian law”. As indicated in the message, this was done pursuant to Articles 109 to 114 of the Geneva Conventions with the participation of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

“Ukraine adheres to international law and the Geneva Conventions, demonstrating to the world that we are a civilized European state,” the headquarters said.

The headquarters also released photos and videos showing the injured being loaded into ambulances.

At the same time, Ukraine accused Moscow of not respecting the Geneva Conventions and of not transferring the seriously injured to Kiev. The headquarters called on the world community to put pressure on Russia on this issue.

The Russian side has not yet commented on the transfer of prisoners.

On the afternoon of March 24, the Ministry of Reintegration of Ukraine reported that with the help of the Office of the Commissioner for Missing Persons, in cooperation with law enforcement agencies, the country returned the bodies of 83 deceased soldiers.

Russia has not yet commented on this information either.

Russia and Ukraine last reported on the prisoner exchange on March 7. Moscow announced the return of 90 people, Kiev – 130. Commissioner for Human Rights in Russia Tatyana Moskalkova claimed that initially it was an exchange according to the “160-160” scheme, but Ukraine agreed to exchange only 90 people. The next day, Moskalkova also released a list of 70 people she said Kiev had refused to exchange for Russian troops in a new prisoner swap. On the same day, the Commissioner for Human Rights in Ukraine, Dmitry Lubinets, accused the Russian side of delaying the exchange process, and also recalled the agreements on the return of civilians, seriously injured and seriously ill prisoners.