Ukraine is conducting negotiations with Russia to exchange prisoners under the "all for all" formula, the chief of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, has said at a meeting with servicemen's families at the coordination HQ for the treatment of prisoners of war.
Budanov noted that the exchange on 21 September opened new opportunities for further prisoner exchanges.
The meeting discussed border guards, marines, sailors, National Guard members, intelligence officers, servicemen - both privates and officers, conscripts, who were captured by the Russian occupiers.
It also touched the issue of people considered non-combatants in accordance with the Geneva Conventions. These are Ukrainian doctors and, for example, musicians of the Marine Corps orchestra.
According to the press service of the coordination HQ, work is underway to create cards of prisoners of war. These are personal pages where relatives will be able to track all changes in the status of a prisoner of war.
On 21 September, Ukraine conducted another exchange of prisoners, as a result of which some defenders of Azovstal returned home. Some 215 Ukrainian soldiers were released.
According to the patronage service of Azov, almost 800 regiment members are still in Russian captivity, including more than 40 women, some of them pregnant.