Ukrainian human rights commissioner reports on condition of freed POWs, says he met Russian counterpart

Ukraine's Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets met with his Russian counterpart Tatyana Moskalkova during the latest prisoner exchange with Russia, where they exchanged lists of missing persons and discussed the next humanitarian steps.

Source: Lubinets during the national joint 24/7 newscast

Quote: "I was present during the exchange today [11 April]. In addition to the fact that we brought our heroes back from Russian captivity as usual, I once again held talks with my Russian counterpart Moskalkova, who was also present. Once again, we exchanged lists of those considered missing, and discussed the next humanitarian steps. We also had a separate discussion about the issue of civilians being brought back."

Details: Lubinets said that the seven civilians released on 11 April had been captured by Russian forces back in 2022 and had never been formally charged with any criminal offences.

"That is, the men effectively spent four years in detention without any charges. Moreover, they were held in the same conditions as Ukrainian POWs and were subjected to the same torture – both physical and psychological," the commissioner noted.

Lubinets said one of the civilians had been detained without any grounds at a checkpoint while trying to travel to Mariupol to pick up his father. The civilians released also included men from Kherson, Kharkiv and Kyiv oblasts.

The commissioner added that all the prisoners released have health problems.

"We brought back one man in a semi-conscious state; he had to be carried, and he has a very serious traumatic brain injury," Lubinets said.

Quote: "Once again, we are recording that not only do the conditions in which the Russians are holding both our POWs and civilians fail to comply with the Geneva Conventions, but they also defy any basic human understanding of why such treatment is meted out, why such daily torture is inflicted."

Details: Lubinets also said he has a "positive feeling" regarding future exchanges.

"I do not want to get ahead of events, but I very much hope that this is the first Easter exchange. I do not know whether it will be the first and the last, but there is a positive feeling that we are moving forward, with the help of our international partners," he said.

Background:

• On 11 April, Ukraine and Russia conducted a prisoner exchange that resulted in Ukraine bringing home 175 military personnel and seven civilians.
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he hopes that exchanges with Russia will continue in the near future.
• Andrii Yusov, spokesman for Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU), has said Ukraine had been working on securing the return of a significantly larger number of POWs than the 182 people freed on 11 April, but he hopes this exchange will be "only the beginning of an Easter swap".

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