Russia has refused Kyiv's offer to exchange all prisoners of war who profess Islam on the occasion of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the Ukrainian authorities have said.
Source. This was reported by Daria Zarivna, communications adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, BBC reports.
"We came up with a proposal to exchange Muslims "all for all" on both sides as a sign of respect for their culture and traditions. Unfortunately, the Russian side accepted this idea without much enthusiasm," Zarivna said.
According to her, this initiative was one of many proposed by the Ukrainian side for the exchange of prisoners.
In total, the Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War has conducted dozens of exchanges since March 11, 2022, during which 2005 people, both military and civilians, were exchanged.
11 Ukrainians returned home as a result of the last exchange, which took place on April 3.
Background. As a reminder, on March 7, Ukraine managed to return home 130 of its prisoners.