(Kyiv) Russians and Ukrainians exchanged prisoners on Thursday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk announced on Facebook, who also accused Russian forces of detaining civilians and engaging in torture.
Posted at 5:51 p.m.
“In exchange for ten captured occupants, we got back ten of our military,” she wrote, saying it was the “first real exchange of prisoners of war” with Russia since the start of its offensive. in Ukraine.
In addition, eleven Russian civilian sailors, survivors of a ship that sank in the Black Sea near Odessa, were sent to Russia against the return to Ukraine of 19 civilian sailors captured by the Russians.
“I confirm the information concerning the exchange of ten Russian soldiers detained on Ukrainian territory for ten Ukrainian soldiers. And there was also an exchange of Russian civilian sailors for Ukrainian civilian sailors,” said Russian human rights delegate to the Kremlin, Tatiana Moskalkova.
On Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that two exchanges had already been organized since the start of the Russian invasion, without however specifying their dates or the number of prisoners concerned.
In a video released in the evening, the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister also indicated that Russian forces were detaining 14 Ukrainian officials, most of them deputies of local assemblies or representatives of municipalities. She demanded their release, stressing that capturing civilians was against international law.
Citing testimonies of Ukrainians released by Russian forces, she also accused the Russian soldiers of torture, and promised that they should answer for their actions before international justice.
“All members of the Russian military who listen to this statement should know that no one will go unpunished,” she said.