Criticism of the prisoner exchange: ASOW brigade remains without a returnee!

Criticism of the prisoner exchange: ASOW brigade remains without a returnee!

In Ukraine, there are mixed reactions on the recently carried out prisoner exchange with Russia. While the return of 1,000 Ukrainian prisoners is celebrated as a success, considerable displeasure is also stimulating. The commander of the 12th ASOW brigade, Denys Prokopenko, found on Facebook that there was no soldier of his unit among the returnees. He described this as "shame for the country" and demands that the ASOW fighters who defended the steel mill in Mariupol should receive priority in exchange, after all, they were essential for national defense.

The ASOW brigade, founded in 2014, has developed into one of the most combat-strong units of Ukraine and forms the core of the 1st Corps of the National Guard Asow, which operates under Prokopo Kos. He criticized the Ukrainian negotiation tactic and demanded alternative exchange objects if no ASOW fighters should be released. Among the options proposed by him were Russian intelligence officers and priests of the Muscaut's faithful Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

missing release from civilians

The exchange that was completed on Sunday also provided for the release of 1,000 prisoners on both sides. However, the return of civilians, especially from Donbass, was ignored. In this context, the writer Stanislaw Asjejew criticized that no civilians have been released, some of which have been under the violence of mosa cautious authorities for eight years. Asjejew himself spent years in a torture prison in Donetsk before it was released in 2019.

At the moment, hundreds of soldiers from Mariupol are still in Russian captivity. Relatives of the prisoners protest in Kyjiw every Sunday to raise the fate of their loved ones to the public. Switlana, a relative, tells of her son, who went into captivity on orders and has been missing for three years. Such fates throw a shadow on the few positive news from the exchange campaigns.

living conditions of the prisoners

The Ukrainian president asked in conversations about an armistice that the exchange of prisoners should be a central component of a peace plan. The Situation remains tense and the return of underrepresented units such as the ASOW brigade remains a hotly controversial topic.