Moscow tried to exchange civilian Ukrainians for Russian military, which is prohibited by the Geneva Convention. The Ukrainian side refused, the Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Irina Vereshchuk said in a commentary to the Air Force..

There is growing evidence that the Russian Federation forcibly deported many civilians across the border after invading the country in February.. Vereshchuk said that they are being used as hostages. “So they took all these hostages – civilians, women, local council workers, to try and use them,” she said..

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“We know that there are more than a thousand hostages, including almost 500 women... We know that they are in prisons and in pre-trial detention centers in Kursk, Bryansk, Ryazan, Rostov”.

Russia has also delayed the return of female civilians:.

“We pull women [from captivity] almost with tongs. Now we refuse to make an exchange without women on the list.. Thus, we are trying to somehow save our own and [other] civilians.”.

During the latest exchange, nine civilians were sent back with severe injuries, including amputations performed in Russia..

“In this exchange, there were seriously injured – amputated limbs, sepsis, other severe injuries,” Vereshchuk said..

" “The stories they told us are terrible.”.

Earlier we reported that Russia wants to hold a parade of Ukrainian prisoners of war on May 9. Also recently, a priest of the OCU from Kherson spoke about torture in the occupation.