Negotiations on the release of captured Ukrainian servicemen are being held formally and through unofficial channels, the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) said.
“As to Gen. Ruban [Reserve Col. Gen. Volodymyr Ruban, head of the POW exchange center], I spoke to him before this program. Indeed, a number was mentioned, 680 captured Ukrainian servicemen. He told me he had been given a list of 200 captured servicemen. And he was promised more. The conversation was held with Oleksandr Zakharchenko [Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic],” NSDC Information Analysis Center speaker Andriy Lysenko said in the program aired by the ICTV channel on Monday evening, Sept. 1.
“Currently, the POW-related work is being done formally by a special unit of the Ukrainian Security Service and unofficially by Volodymyr Ruban,” he said.
The NSDC speaker said Ruban told him what conditions the militia had set for releasing the Ukrainian servicemen.
“They are ready to let [the prisoners] go but on the condition they will not return to the front. There are also other conditions and they are now being debated,” Lysenko said, referring to the POW exchange center head.
“The information is not disclosed in order to make the negotiations successful and to ensure security of the prisoners,” he said.
The NSDC speaker stressed the importance of integrated efforts of the official and unofficial negotiators.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff is considering the launch of guerrilla operations but this is not a current priority, Lysenko added.
“Guerrilla operations are a part of the General Staff’s mobilization plans. There are certain commanders of guerrilla units, they know their people who will join these units,” he continued.
It is possible to start guerrilla operations in the woods, in the Chernihiv and Zhytomyr regions. “But the war is now in progress in eastern Ukraine,” Lysenko pointed out.
