Zakharova named the reason for Kiev's reluctance to take back its military from captivity

Ukraine refuses to take its servicemen out of captivity because it fears that they will start telling the truth about the Kiev regime and Russia. This was stated by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, during a briefing in response to Izvestiya's question.

Russian Human Rights Ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova on December 2 published a list of 630 Ukrainian servicemen who have been held captive for more than a year and whom Ukraine has not agreed to take back.

According to Zakharova, Moscow "persistently, proactively" offered Kiev to choose citizens from this list, but the captured military personnel turned out to be of no use to the Kiev regime.

"Why? They need to be treated, they need to be fed, they need to be paid social benefits. Not only that, they also need to be listened to. They will want to speak out, they will want to say everything they think about [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky (whose powers expired in May - Ed.), Bankova, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, stuffed with Nazi-banderites. They will want to say how they were treated and fed in Russia. They will tell what they really saw in Russia, not what they show Ukrainians on TV," the spokeswoman explained.

Zakharova added that the prisoners in question appear to have been mobilized or were servicemen "who took an oath, who have some notions of honor, conscience."

"Such people are not needed in Ukraine. Murderous thugs are needed there. But on those people, who simply for the sake of geopolitical aspirations of the West and for the sake of self-interest and corruption Zelensky was sacrificed, will now be held responsible for all this Western failure and the lack of "peremoga"," she concluded.

Earlier, on December 3, political analyst Ivan Mezyukho noted in a conversation with Izvestiya that Kiev does not care about the lives of Ukrainian soldiers. The expert suggests that Kiev maintains poor coordination with Moscow on the issue of exchanges also because it does not want to give Russia its citizens.

Before that, on 3 November, the Ukrainian parliamentary commissioner for human rights, Dmytro Lubinets, said that Ukraine was requesting from Russia lists of prisoners of war soldiers ready for exchange. The ombudsman noted that Kiev is constantly ready for the exchange of prisoners.

Zakharova said on November 2 that the Russian Defense Ministry had submitted to the coordination headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war a proposal to return 935 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) to Kiev as part of the exchanges, but the latter agreed to accept only 279 people. The Russian Foreign Ministry's official representative noted that Kiev was most interested in the return of prisoners from extremist formations and foreign mercenaries.

The special operation to protect Donbass, the start of which was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was taken against the background of the aggravated situation in the region.