Ukraine and Russia exchanged a total of 180 prisoners of war on Tuesday90 on each side, with the help of United Arab EmiratesBoth the Ukrainian Presidency and the Russian Ministry of Defense reported today.
“Home is not just a word. Home is Ukraine. Today, another 90 of our people have returned home from Russian captivity,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on his Telegram channel.
In the case of Ukraine, soldiers from the National Guard, Navy, Army and border guards returned home, as well as defenders of the city of Mariupol and the central Chernobyl nuclear.
Also soldiers who fought on the Kherson (south), Kharkiv (northeast), Zaporizhzhia (southeast) and Donetsk and Lugansk (east) fronts.
“We remember all our people in Russian captivity. We continue working for the liberation of each and every one of them. “We seek the truth about all those who may be held by the enemy,” Zelensky said.
The Russian Defense Ministry in turn explained on its Telegram channel that the exchange was the result of a negotiation process in which the United Arab Emirates provided humanitarian mediation.
“The released servicemen will be transferred on military transport planes of the Russian Air Force to Moscow for treatment and rehabilitation in medical institutions of the Russian Ministry of Defense. All those released are receiving the necessary medical and psychological assistance”, he indicated.
On the other hand, the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced this Tuesday arrest warrants against the former Russian Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoiguand the chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimovfor war crimes and crimes against humanity between October 2022 and March 2023 during the invasion of Ukraine.
The court said in a statement that the orders were issued because the judges considered there were reasonable grounds to believe that the men are responsible for “missile attacks carried out by the Russian armed forces against Ukraine’s electrical infrastructure” from October 10, 2022 until at least March 9, 2023.
“During this period, the Russian armed forces carried out a large number of attacks against numerous electrical power plants and substations in multiple locations in Ukraine.”the court added.
There is no immediate likelihood that any of the suspects will be arrested. Russia is not a member of the global court, does not recognize its jurisdiction and refuses to hand over suspects.
Last year, the court also issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine.
Putin replaced Shoigu as defense minister in a cabinet reshuffle in May as he began his fifth term as president. He appointed Shoigu as secretary of the Russian Security Council, the Kremlin said.
The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber approved the arrest warrants, holding both senior officials of the Russian Government responsible for war crimes for “directing attacks at civilian targets and for causing excessive collateral damage to civilians and civilian objects”as well as a crime against humanity for “inhuman acts” defined in the Rome Statute.
The ICC prosecutor, Karim Khanasked the Court to approve these arrest warrants, in which it accuses Shoigu and Gerasimov of being allegedly “criminally responsible” for having committed these criminal acts, ordering their commission and/or failing to exercise adequate control over the forces under their command to prevent the commission of these crimes.
“There are reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects are responsible for the missile attacks carried out by the Russian armed forces against the Ukrainian electrical infrastructure from at least October 10, 2022 to at least March 9, 2023.”noted the three judges that make up the Preliminary Matters Chamber.
(With information from EFE)
