Ukraine and Russia Reach Preliminary Agreement to Prioritize Repatriating Wounded POWs

Ukraine and Russia have reached a preliminary agreement of holding regular prisoner exchanges throughout the year, prioritizing the repatriation of seriously ill and severely injured prisoners of war (POWs), the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets revealed on January 6.

“There is also the preliminary agreement that every Ukrainian prisoner of war and civilian hostage will receive a care package from Ukraine with the assistance of the ICRC. We will see if the Russian side keeps its word,“ Lubinets wrote on his Telegram channel.

Speaking on the national telethon, Lubinets expressed optimism that Russia would uphold its commitment.

"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," Lubinets said.

"For the first time, we managed to establish that we will create lists primarily based on physical health."

The last POWs exchange between Ukraine and Russia took place on December 30, when Kyiv Ukraine successfully facilitated the release of 189 people from Russian captivity.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine had successfully secured the release of 3,767 individuals from Russian captivity. Many of them required rehabilitation after suffering torture, humiliation, and starvation while detained.