Ukraine, Russia agree on regular prisoner exchanges in 2025
Kyiv and Moscow have reached a “preliminary agreement” to make regular prisoner exchanges this year, prioritizing the return of seriously ill and severely wounded POWs, Ukraine's Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets announced on Jan. 6.
In an interview with the state-run parliamentary TV broadcaster Rada, Lubinets said he hopes that Russia will adhere to its commitment on this matter.
"On Dec. 30, it ended with a working meeting, and we preliminarily agreed to conduct exchanges systematically,” Lubinets stated.
“I do not want this to come across as an official announcement just yet. But we will see if the Russian side keeps its word. If they do, Ukrainian society will notice the systematic nature in terms of quantity, timing, and categories [of prisoners returning home].”
Under the updated framework for compiling the lists of prisoners each side requests for a given exchange, priority will now be given to returning seriously ill and severely wounded individuals. Afterwards, those who have been in captivity the longest will follow.
“For the first time, we managed to establish that we will create lists primarily based on physical health,” the ombudsman added.
“That means the severely wounded and seriously ill will be returned first. The last principle is fairness: those who have been captive the longest will be released first.”
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