Exchange of prisoners at Belarusian border amid challenging talks

On Friday, at the border with Belarus, the 56th prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia took place. The Ukrainian side handed over 49 prisoners to the Russian side, and in return, Russia handed over the same number of prisoners to Ukraine, a fact confirmed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Russian prisoners arrived at one of the Ukrainian-Belarusian border crossings by bus and minibus. Ambulances accompanied the convoy, tasked with taking care of the Ukrainian prisoners returning from Belarus. Ukrainian service and military vehicles were also involved in the exchange process.

Andriy Yusov, a representative of the Ukrainian military intelligence HUR, said in an interview with PAP that he could not confirm that the Russians exchanged on Friday were soldiers captured during the operations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Russian Kursk region. He explained, however, that "they are soldiers of the enemy army, the army of the aggressor state."

Asked about the course of negotiations with Russia regarding exchanging prisoners, Yusov revealed their complex nature. He pointed out that Ukraine cannot rely on the support of international institutions established for this purpose.

— The talks about the exchange are challenging because the aggressor state ignores international humanitarian law and often does not adhere to the Geneva Conventions. The HUR representative stated that these talks are bilateral because the global institutions that are supposed to handle or support them simply do not do so.

— These talks continue all the time, regardless of the situation and regardless of how sharp public statements might be. The work on subsequent exchanges continues all the time — he added.