Russian FM: Russia, Ukraine held two exchanges of prisoners
Russia's FM spokesperson says the ministry is organizing daily humanitarian corridors and evacuation of Ukrainian civilians from residential areas.
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Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova confirmed Wednesday in a statement that Russia and Ukraine held two exchanges of prisoners.
According to Zakharova's statement, "The Russian Defense Ministry is organizing daily humanitarian corridors and evacuation of civilians from residential areas."
"Meanwhile, the European Union fails to persuade Kiev to stop Ukrainian nationalists using civilians as a human shield and blocking their exit to Russia," Zakharova pointed out.
Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova announced Tuesday that the first exchange of prisoners took place earlier this week, confirming that "We returned nine of our boys" in exchange for the mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fyodorov.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk reported Wednesday that an agreement had been reached to try to evacuate civilians trapped in Ukrainian towns and cities through nine humanitarian corridors.
It is noteworthy that the Kremlin's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, had denied rumors about the absence of humanitarian corridors, stressing that "Humanitarian corridors are being set up. Allegations that no one is being let out of surrounded cities are lies, absolute lies."
"There are humanitarian corridors whose operation is ensured by our military. However, people aren’t leaving through them because those very nationalists are reluctant to let them go," he indicated.
