The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine periodically excludes military personnel of certain units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including marines, from exchange lists as they are deemed unworthy of exchange. This was stated in a briefing by the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova.
This is how Zakharova commented on insinuations that Russia supposedly refuses to include Ukrainian marines in the exchange lists.
“We heard publicly…that Russia allegedly refuses to include Ukrainian marines on exchange lists. This is a lie and it is not true. We are ready to publish a list of 29 Ukrainian marines who were returned by the Russian side during the exchanges. Why is the Kyiv regime hiding this information? Great question. We will publish this list,” said the diplomat.
(List of 29 Ukrainian marines returned by the Russian side during the “95 for 95” exchange on October 17, 2024.)
He noted that the Russian side has repeatedly offered as part of the exchange a significantly larger number of marines, in particular from the 36th separate marine brigade, which surrendered in Mariupol in 2022, but the kyiv regime has no interest in them. .
“I am sure that the relatives of these people in Ukraine have no idea that the Russian side announced an exchange with their loved ones, who are detained as prisoners of war on Russian territory. They just don’t tell them anything about Bankova and lie to them.” – Zakharova emphasized.
Russia knows that the leadership of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine periodically excludes servicemen of certain units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the exchange lists, considering them unworthy of exchange, traitors who, in violation of the order, abandoned their positions and voluntarily. who have surrendered, as well as those mobilized in military defense, deliberately do not want to accept them, added the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
