Two days after the Olenivka attack, we were supposed to pick up those men for an exchange – Coordination Headquarters

Russia cynically carried out an attack in occupied Olenivka, killing Azov fighters and other prisoners of war, despite the fact that agreements had already been reached with the Ukrainian side regarding an exchange. Bogdan Okhrimenko, a representative of the Coordination Headquarters and head of the Coordination Headquarters Secretariat, spoke about this at the Ukraine Media Center. 

“Everyone saw the conditions set by the Ukrainian side for the soldiers’ surrender as prisoners of honor. And most importantly, the Russian side signed off on these conditions. But Russia could not accept that it had publicly agreed to these terms and did everything possible to discredit this fact. An exchange of these very soldiers from this location (Olenivka—ed.) was planned for two days later; in exactly two days, we were supposed to retrieve those soldiers from Olenivka; agreements had been reached, and Russia said it would hand them over,” said Bohdan Okhrimenko. 

A representative of the Coordination Headquarters noted that in every exchange, the issue of returning soldiers from Azov is raised. Separately, there is also the problem of prisoners of war from the “Mariupol” garrison being sentenced to terms in Russian prisons. 

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