MOSCOW (TASS) – Ukraine has taken back only two prisoners of war from a list of 1,000 names it had previously rejected, Russian presidential aide and head of the Russian delegation in talks with Ukraine, Vladimir Medinsky, said on Wednesday. The exchange saw 84 Russian servicemen returned from Ukrainian territory in exchange for 84 Ukrainian POWs.
Medinsky specified that Kiev accepted only Alexander Boychuk, born October 14, 1976, and Vladimir Fedorenko, born February 16, 1982, from the list published by RT. He suggested Ukrainian authorities may fear these men “were completely re-educated while in Russian captivity.”
Earlier this month, Medinsky said Kiev’s refusal to take back 1,000 Ukrainian POWs had stalled the second stage of exchanges, while the third stage has yet to begin. On August 12, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed President Volodymyr Zelensky still refuses to accept the prisoners from the published list.
