Ombudsman: Currently no prospects for ‘all for all’ prisoner swap as Russia is against it

"Geneva Conventions clearly define the categories that have a priority right to be released. These are service women and the wounded. And we have repeatedly offered the Russian Federation to hold ‘all for all’ female swap, ‘all for all’ wounded swap, and we also suggested holding ‘all for all’ swap of the remaining military personnel," Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, said during the nationwide telethon, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

However, according to him, the Russian side has never agreed to such formats of exchanges. The Ombudsman stated that there are currently no prospects for an "all for all" exchange.

Lubinets said that the Ukrainian authorities constantly raise the issue of the release of civilian hostages. The invaders have already detained many civilians and continue to detain them in the temporarily occupied territories.

"Practically all detainees are subjected to physical and psychological torture. And this is a systemic thing that we not only observe but also record. And we once again call on the international community to put pressure on the Russian Federation as the aggressor state to release all civilian hostages," the Ombudsman said.

At the same time, he emphasized that information about the number of civilian hostages held by the Russian Federation should not be disseminated in order not to worsen the situation. According to Lubinets, thousands of citizens of Ukraine are held captive.

Commenting on today's return of 64 Ukrainian defenders from captivity, the Ombudsman said that the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War keeps performing its functions.

"We continue this work every day, and we are also waiting for positive news in the future," he said.

ol