The Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories, Iryna Vereshchuk announced that during the prisoner exchange russian party tried to exchange Ukrainian civilians for the prisoners of war, which is a direct violation of the Geneva convention, BBC reports.
“According to our information, there are more than a thousand hostages there, including almost 500 women. We know that they are in prisons and detention centers in Kursk, Briansk, Riazan, Rostov,” Vereshchuk said.
She also stated that russia refuses to return civil women. According to her, Kyiv intends to reject the prisoners' exchange if there are no women on the list, as there is no other way to save them.
Vereshchuk also stressed that civilians released from russian captivity were often tortured, even had their limbs amputated, and some were found to have blood infections.
On April 28, another round of prisoner exchange took place. It was the seventh one since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the russian Federation of Ukraine. 45 Ukrainians were released from russian captivity - 13 officers and 20 soldiers (5 of whom were wounded), and 12 civilians.