Key facts
- Lubinets said the arrangement provides weekly evacuations of older people, people with limited mobility and those needing medical assistance.
- The International Committee of the Red Cross is assisting the evacuation process, Lubinets said.
- Lubinets said the format was reached through talks with Russian Human Rights Commissioner Yana Lantratova.
- Lubinets said 486 Ukrainian women remain in Russian captivity.
- Lubinets said 86 Ukrainians convicted by Russian courts were released in the latest prisoner exchange.
Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, said on Nov. 13 that Kyiv and Moscow had launched a "new format" of cooperation to evacuate civilians from Russian-occupied territories, allowing people from vulnerable groups to return to Ukrainian-controlled territory every week.
The ombudsman, speaking during a parliamentary meeting, said the arrangement provides for weekly evacuations of older people, people with limited mobility and those in need of medical assistance, with the International Committee of the Red Cross assisting the process. He said 16 Ukrainians were returned on Nov. 12 under the new arrangement.
Lubinets said the arrangement was reached through talks with Russian Human Rights Commissioner Yana Lantratova. The statement follows an evacuation of civilians from the town of Oleshky in Kherson Oblast, during which Russian and Ukrainian forces observed a ceasefire in the area, with U.S. First Lady Melania Trump helping broker the deal, per the report.
"We bring people back from all occupied territories, but we receive the most requests from Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. We have also had successful cases of returns from Kherson Oblast," Lubinets said.
He reiterated that seriously wounded and ill prisoners, as well as Ukrainian women, both military personnel and civilians, are among the priorities for exchange, and said 486 Ukrainian women remain in Russian captivity. Lubinets said 86 Ukrainians convicted by Russian courts were released in the latest prisoner exchange. He recalled that an exchange on Oct. 23 secured the release of two men held in Russian captivity since 2018 and 2020. Ukraine continues to seek an "all-for-all" prisoner exchange, he said.