Russia accuses Ukraine of suspending POW exchange: ISW explains why

This is reported by the Institute for the Study of War.

The day before, Russian Human Rights Ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova accused Ukraine of making "far-fetched demands" that provoked a pause in the exchange of prisoners of war over the past few months.

According to her, Russia has done everything possible to maintain a dialogue with the Ukrainian government and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on the cases of prisoners of war.

However, over the past few months since the last exchange, Russia has committed a number of abuses against Ukrainian POWs, including summary executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war, the use of prisoners of war as human shields at the front, and the alleged functioning of a "black market" for the sale of Ukrainian prisoners of war to Russian paramilitary groups.

Such accusations by the Russian Federation may be an attempt to rhetorically shift the blame to Ukraine and to disguise the list of well-documented Russian abuses of Ukrainian prisoners of war. In addition, the Russian Federation aims to stir up discontent in Ukrainian society or disrupt aid from the West.

Analysts suggest that the Kremlin is using the prisoner of war exchange policy as another rhetorical device to undermine Ukraine's decision-making process.

• Recently, Russian propagandists launched fake information that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy allegedly refused to return hundreds of captured soldiers to Ukraine.