Russia complicating all for all prisoner swap process, says HUR head Budanov
Nation7 September 2023, 07:12 PM
Significant
challenges remain in the "all for all" prisoner swap process,
according to the head of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR),
Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, on Sep. 7.
"The war prisoner swap process is still under way. There are some technical problems due to the intransigence of the Russian Federation. But we will solve it," Budanov said.
Ukraine must return all POWs captured by Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in July.
On Sep. 1, Ukraine’s Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, said that Ukraine faces problems with the process as Russia holds far more POWs than Ukraine.
Ukraine returned 22 defenders from Russian captivity in the last swap on Aug. 7, the 48th successful prisoner swap. To date, 2,598 Ukrainians have returned home from captivity.