Russia, Ukraine accuse each other of obstructing prisoner of war swaps

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MOSCOW (Reuters) -Kyiv called on Moscow on Sunday to provide a list of Ukrainian prisoners of war ready for a swap after Russia accused Ukraine of sabotaging the exchange process.

In requesting the list of Ukrainians from his Russian counterpart, Ukrainian human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets wrote on his Telegram messaging channel: “We are always ready to exchange prisoners of war!”

Kyiv and Moscow have frequently exchanged prisoners since Russia’s full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbor in 2022. The last swap took place in mid-October with each side bringing home 95 prisoners.

On Saturday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Ukraine was essentially sabotaging the process and has refused to take back its own citizens.

Zakharova said Russia’s defence ministry had offered to hand over 935 Ukrainian prisoners of war but that Ukraine had taken only 279.

Lubinets, in turn, said that Ukraine was always ready to accept its citizens and accused Russia of slowing down the exchange process.

Russia’s Commissioner for Human Rights Tatyana Moskalkova said on Saturday that Ukraine has “politicised” the issue.

“We consider it necessary to return to a constructive dialogue and speed up the exchange of prisoners,” Moskalkova wrote on Telegram.

(Reporting by Reuters; Additional reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Cynthia Osterman)