Kiev Not Ready to Take 1,000 POWs Held by Russia — Foreign Ministry

Maria Zakharova drew attention to the words of Ukrainian ambassador to Poland Vasil Bodnar, who said that Ukraine knows "how to kill Russians" and is therefore valuable to NATO

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova Artyom Geodakyan/TASS

© Artyom Geodakyan/TASS

MOSCOW, August 19. /TASS/. Russia is ready to give 1,000 Ukrainian POWs it is holding to Kiev, but they've as yet not shown interest in getting them back, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram.

The diplomat drew attention to the words of Ukrainian ambassador to Poland Vasil Bodnar, who said that Ukraine knows "how to kill Russians" and is therefore valuable to NATO. "Maybe you'll take a thousand captured Ukrainians, Kiev-regime murderers? We’ve gone to great lengths to get them to take a thousand murdered citizens of Ukraine, whom the Ukrainian government refused. They don't want to take the living either," she said.

Earlier, Vladimir Medinsky, Aide to the Russian president and head of the Russian negotiating group with Ukraine, said that Russia, in accordance with the Istanbul agreements, had transferred 1,000 bodies of dead servicemen to Ukraine, and Kiev had transferred 19 bodies.

On July 23, Istanbul hosted the third round of direct Russian-Ukrainian negotiations on the Ukrainian settlement, where the parties agreed to exchange not only soldiers, but also civilians. Russia has proposed to create three online working groups to address political, military and humanitarian issues. Moscow also offered Kiev to transfer another 3,000 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers, and to return to short humanitarian pauses on the front line to collect the wounded and bodies of the dead. The decision on the fourth round of negotiations will be made after the new agreements have been implemented, Medinsky said.