Ukraine began negotiations with the aggressor country of russia regarding the exchange of prisoners captured by Kyiv during the operation in the Kursk Oblast.
This was reported by the British newspaper Financial Times on Thursday, August 15.
The talks took place after more than a week of fierce fighting in the Kursk Oblast of the russian federation and the capture of the largest number of russian prisoners at one time. Dmytro Lubinets, the Human Rights Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, said that his russian colleague Tatyana Moskalkova contacted him to start discussing the exchange of prisoners of war. In addition, Ukrainian military intelligence, which is conducting prisoner-of-war negotiations, confirmed to the Financial Times that it is working on an exchange.
"Kyiv has not disclosed the exact number of russian prisoners its forces captured during the Kursk operation, but government officials and soldiers on the border told the FT that the figure was in the "hundreds." Russian officials have previously said Moscow could end prisoner exchanges. But Lubinets said that his conversation with his russian counterpart Tetyana Moskalkova gave him hope that the warring parties will soon be able to move forward together," the article says.
Lubinets noted that he informed the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross that "the rights of russian prisoners of war are protected and at any moment Ukraine is ready to continue exchange processes based on the Geneva Convention." According to him, Moscow and Kyiv "exchange information" about detained prisoners. Lubinets emphasized that the priority for Ukraine is the exchange of the seriously wounded, women and generally everyone held by the aggressor. The talks took place 10 days after Ukraine launched its "brazen offensive" on russian territory, the FT recalls.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on August 15, Ukraine created the first military commandant's office in the Kursk Oblast of russia, the Armed Forces of Ukraine advanced 35 km deep into the territory of the russian federation and took control of 82 settlements.
On August 14, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, reported that there were no russian troops left in the town of Sudzha, Kursk Oblast.
On August 12, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy officially confirmed the operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kursk Oblast of the russian federation.
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