Russia hindering large-scale prisoner exchanges with Ukraine - Lubinets

Russia, the aggressor nation, is using manipulation and delaying tactics to hinder previously agreed-upon prisoner exchanges with Ukraine. Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, reported this on Facebook on Thursday, May 28.

Lubinets emphasized that Ukraine is ready for the prompt return of prisoners and is completing all necessary procedures in advance. According to him, the state is prioritizing the return of the seriously wounded and seriously ill, followed by those who have been in captivity the longest.

"We constantly insist on a humanitarian and logical sequence in compiling the lists. At the same time, Russia operates according to a different logic—it applies selectivity, constantly playing on emotions and turning the exchange process into a tool for pressure and manipulation," the ombudsman emphasized.

The aggressor continues to drag out the prisoner exchange processes, and against this backdrop, international institutions are still unable to provide real protection for Ukrainians in captivity, Lubinets said.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on May 16, Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets stated that the situation regarding the return of Mariupol defenders from russian captivity remains the most difficult at present.