Zelensky explained the lack of prisoner exchanges with Russia.

Prisoner of war exchanges have not been conducted since October of last year due to Russia’s deliberate slowdown of this process, recognizing its particular importance for Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated this during a conversation with journalists.

The head of state emphasized that pauses in exchanges are part of the pressure exerted by the aggressor countries on Ukraine.

“Ukraine is finding diplomatic leverage to pressure Russia to end the war. Russia understands that prisoner exchanges are an important and sensitive issue for us, which is why they’re holding things back,” Zelenskyy explained.

The President emphasized that the Ukrainian side will do everything possible to unblock the process of returning prisoners.

According to him, the Coordination Headquarters, Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate Kyrylo Budanov, the Security Service of Ukraine, and Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak were handling the exchanges. Zelenskyy noted that the person holding the position of Head of the Office should be directly involved in this area, as it is extremely important.

The president also announced that the new head of the Presidential Office will continue to work on exchanges together with National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov. According to Zelenskyy, this topic remains a key focus for the Ukrainian negotiating team.

As a reminder, Ukrainian troops recently captured two Colombian citizens fighting on the Russian side near Pokrovsk . They were detained by soldiers from the 425th Separate Assault Regiment “Skala” of the Ukrainian Ground Forces.

Earlier , on December 8, two servicemen from the 67th Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces captured six Russian infidels during a search and strike operation in the Aleksandrovsk area.