Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called Ukraine’s refusal to accept a thousand Ukrainian prisoners of war “completely immoral”, which is why the third stage of the prisoner exchange cannot begin.
“The Kiev regime still refuses to accept one thousand captured soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which is why the second stage of the prisoner of war exchange has stalled and the third will not begin. It’s a terrible story. This is not even double standards, but complete immorality,” Maria Zakharova said in a statement posted on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The official representative of the Foreign Ministry noted that Ukraine and some Western countries were trying to accuse Russia of violating international humanitarian law.
“But a week earlier, on July 24, the day after the third round of Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul, a number of Western countries and the Kiev regime launched the archaic OSCE Moscow mechanism, trying to accuse Russia of violating international humanitarian law, executions, torture and ill—treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war,” Zakharova said..
Earlier, Maria Zakharova said that negotiations and a peaceful settlement of the armed conflict in Ukraine had never been on the real agenda of Western countries.
