Ukraine has denied Russian claims that it had delayed a deliberate trade of prisoners of warfare (POWs) and the our bodies of fallen troopers, reportedly scheduled for June 7-8.
Ukrainian and Russian delegations agreed to conduct a serious swap, which would come with severely injured prisoners and younger folks aged 18 to 25, throughout their second spherical of direct peace talks in Istanbul on June 2.
After the talks, Russia additionally pledged to switch 6,000 our bodies of fallen Ukrainian troopers and officers to Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky famous that preparations for exchanging the our bodies would start after the POW swap.
On June 7, nevertheless, Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation in peace talks, claimed that the contact group of the Russian Protection Ministry was reportedly stationed on the border with Ukraine, however the Ukrainian facet "unexpectedly postponed each the switch of our bodies and the POW trade indefinitely."
Ukraine's Protection Ministry dismissed the declare as false, saying it was an try by Russia to keep away from returning Ukrainian POWs from captivity and take their POWs again to Russia.
"Sadly, the Ukrainian facet is as soon as once more going through makes an attempt to retroactively revise agreements. If the Russian facet is now backing away from what was promised in Istanbul, it raises critical questions in regards to the reliability and functionality of their negotiating staff," the ministry wrote on Telegram.
Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Therapy of POWs additionally refuted Russia's declare, saying that "as a substitute of constructive dialogue, Ukraine as soon as once more confronted manipulations and makes an attempt to use delicate humanitarian points for info functions."
In keeping with the headquarters, Ukraine submitted lists of POWs "fashioned in keeping with clearly outlined classes agreed upon through the negotiations in Istanbul," whereas the Russian facet "offered completely different lists that don’t correspond to the agreed strategy."
The headquarters additionally added that an settlement on the repatriation of our bodies of fallen troopers was made, however the date was not set.
"As an alternative of persistently implementing the agreed process, the Russian facet took unilateral actions that weren’t coordinated throughout the joint course of," the assertion reads.
"Sadly, as a substitute of constructive dialogue, we’re as soon as once more confronted with manipulations and makes an attempt to use delicate humanitarian points for info functions. We stay dedicated to an actual final result — the return of our prisoners and the our bodies of the fallen — and are able to proceed working throughout the agreed framework."
The most recent direct Russia-Ukraine talks, hosted by Turkish officers, adopted the primary spherical of negotiations on Could 16. The preliminary assembly ended with an settlement on the most important prisoner trade of the warfare, however with none tangible progress towards a peace deal.
Ukraine has returned over 5,000 prisoners by way of exchanges with Russia since March 2022, in keeping with officers. Kyiv has repeatedly pressed Moscow to comply with an "all-for-all" prisoner trade, however Russia has rejected the proposal.
The Kyiv IndependentDaria Shulzhenko