Ukrainian human rights defender Dmytro Lubynets said that the prisoner exchange with Russia, based on the “1000 for 1000” formula announced by US President Donald Trump, is being delayed due to Russia’s position.
“Ukraine has fulfilled all its obligations: the lists have been transferred, and the negotiating team has fulfilled all its obligations. Now the decision is Russia’s. However, Russia is dragging out the process and trying to manipulate,” Lubynets wrote on his Telegram channel.
At the same time, he stressed that “the negotiation process continues every day” and stated that Ukraine’s priority is “to return everyone.”
“First of all, those who have been in captivity the longest, in particular since 2014,” Lubynets noted.
Russia has not yet commented on the Ukrainian ombudsman’s statements.
Trump announced that Ukraine and Russia would exchange prisoners in parallel with the announcement of a ceasefire, which was supposed to take effect on May 9, 10, and 11. During these three days, the sides refrained from massive missile and drone strikes, but accused each other of continuing hostilities on the front line and shelling border areas.
On May 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow had conveyed its proposals for a prisoner exchange to Ukraine as early as May 5. However, according to Putin’s claim, Ukraine responded: “that we need to look more closely, maybe not all 500, but 200, and then they completely disappeared from sight and simply said that they were not ready for this exchange.”
The next day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kyiv had handed over all the exchange lists to Moscow and called on Trump to “ensure the implementation of the agreements reached through his mediation.”
