{"id":140664,"date":"2025-05-30T21:49:20","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T18:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/140664\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","slug":"russia-blocks-belarusian-pow-swaps-zelensky","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/140664\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia refuses to exchange Belarusian POWs \u2013 Zelensky"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

May 30, Pozirk. <\/em><\/strong>Russia refuses to include captive Belarusians in prisoner-of-war swaps as it would rather not acknowledge that the population of Belarus supports Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Interestingly, they don’t want to exchange Belarusian citizens. To give us the Belarusian citizens who were on our side, or even the Belarusian political prisoners, for example. It is not even a question of war. They don’t want to acknowledge that the Belarusians are on the side of Ukraine,” he said<\/a>, as quoted by Ukrinform<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that other foreigners captured by Russia are in the same situation. The Russians would rather not exchange them because this allows them to influence their relations with these countries, the Ukrainian president said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that Russia “solves its issues” in this way, sometimes using it as leverage or to retrieve its special agents imprisoned abroad. The president also noted that this is the reason people from Latin America are never swapped, as Russia is not interested in exchanging “any other citizens.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freeing Belarusian volunteer fighters from Russian captivity was raised at the 4th Conference of the Belarusian Diaspora on May 24 in Warsaw. Alaksandar Kla\u010dko, the member of the opposition Coordination Council’s Liberty faction who had fought for Ukraine, said Russia does not include Belarusians in the exchange lists as it considers them as foreign mercenaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Zelensky rules out Belarus as potential venue for peace talks<\/h3>\n
May 28, Pozirk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described potential peace talks with Russia in Belarus as impossible, Interfax Ukraine reported. Belarus is the aggressor's ally that allowed Russian troops to launch missiles on Ukraine from its territory and use the …<\/div>\n \n