Russian forces reported selling Ukrainian prisoners to Chechen units

Paramilitary groups fighting for Russia, especially those under Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, currently have limited chances to capture Ukrainian prisoners as they are not directly engaged in combat. However, these units are interested in conducting their own prisoner exchanges with Ukraine to retrieve Chechen soldiers taken prisoner at the front. This has led them to purchase Ukrainians from the regular Russian army, the ISW reported, referencing information from the British newspaper "The Times".

"The Times" highlighted that while the 1949 Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war doesn't specifically classify these informal exchanges as a breach of humanitarian law, such practices are likely unlawful. The Convention forbids any "special agreements that adversely affect prisoners' conditions".

As of the end of January, over 8,000 Ukrainian citizens, which include more than 1,600 civilians, are held prisoner in Russia, Yuriy Taraniuk, a representative of the Ukrainian coordination headquarters for the exchange of prisoners of war, reported.