Russia lied that there are almost no occupant prisoners left in Ukraine after the largest exchange
The Russian information that there are almost no Russian prisoners of war left in Ukraine after the 1000-for-1000 exchange is not true. This was stated in a commentary to LIGA.net by a representative of the Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate, Andriy Yusov.
"It's a lie, to put it briefly. A lie that is deliberately dispersed with the pretext of sowing panic and disbelief within Ukrainian society, and, of course, to build up some kind of cheerful patriotic mood within Russia," he said .
In particular, on May 23, after the first stage of a major exchange, the propaganda Telegram channel Mash claimed that only about 1,300 Russian Armed Forces servicemen were allegedly left in Ukraine's captivity, and that "almost 10,000" Ukrainian soldiers were captured by Russia.
"Russia is returning home almost all of its servicemen who have been captured over the past three years SVO. Ukraine – less than 10%", – propagandists wrote at the time.
Yusov emphasized that there are no "tens of thousands" of Ukrainian prisoners in Russia, while there are thousands of Russian prisoners in Ukraine.
"And the work on replenishing the exchange fund will continue despite various manipulations. We do not comment on specific figures, but we are talking about thousands of Russian occupants in Ukrainian captivity," the DIU representative emphasized .
- on May 16, during negotiations in Istanbul, Ukraine and Russia managed to reach only one real agreement – on a large exchange of prisoners in the format of 1000 for 1000 .
- On May 23, Ukraine managed to return from Russian captivity 270 military and 120 civilians. Among those released are three women and 387 men. Ukraine handed over 70 collaborators to Russia as part of the exchange.
- On May 24, the second stage of the large-scale exchange took place – Ukraine managed to bring home 307 defenders .
- On May 25, the third and final stage of the large-scale exchange took place – Ukraine returned 303 soldiers .
- As part of the 1000 for 1000 exchange, for the first time since the beginning of the full-scale war, Ukraine managed to release who had never been on the exchange lists before.
