Ukraine proposed a 1 to 4 exchange formula, in which the number of prisoners returned to Russia would exceed the number returned to the Ukrainian side.
Illustrative photo
The Russian Federation ignored Ukraine's proposal to exchange Muslim and Catholic prisoners according to a 1 to 4 formula, where the number of Russians would exceed the number of Ukrainian fighters.
This was reported by the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights Dmitry Lubinets.
< “Tomorrow, Muslims of the world will celebrate the end of the fast - Eid al-Adha. In addition, on March 31, Catholics celebrated Easter. On this occasion, Ukraine initiated the exchange of prisoners of war professing Islam and Catholics,” he wrote.
< >He also noted that the list that Ukraine offered for exchange to the Russian side included 1 Catholic and 146 Muslims. However, the Russian Federation ignored the proposed lists.
“As we see, even the message of the Pope did not motivate the Russians to carry out an exchange either according to the formula “all for all” or under other conditions. Despite such unreasonable behavior of the Russian side, Ukraine expresses its readiness to carry out an exchange according to the formula “all for all” on the occasion of the celebration of Orthodox Easter,” Lubinets added.
He noted that such a proposal was sent to the Russian side.
“I also join it and, for my part, will additionally contact the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, T. Moskalkova,” said the Ombudsman.
- On March 31, Pope Francis, in his Easter message, called on Russia and Ukraine to exchange prisoners according to the “all for all” formula.
- The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War responded, that Ukrainian officials have repeatedly stated their readiness to conduct a prisoner exchange on the “all for all” principle, but Russia does not want to return its people.
- On February 8, they carried out an exchange of prisoners of war, as a result of which another 100 of our soldiers returned home from Russian captivity. These are soldiers and sergeants, most of them are defenders of Mariupol and Azovstal, soldiers of the National Guard, State National Guard Service, and Armed Forces of Ukraine. Before that, on January 31, Ukraine returned home 207 prisoners.
- In total, as of February, 3,135 Ukrainians and Ukrainian women had already been released from Russian captivity. Zelensky stated this.