Zelensky: Russia ‘playing with the lives of Ukrainian POWs’

FILE PHOTO: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky accuses Russia of “playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs)” during his video broadcast on Wednesday, January 24, 2024. In this photo, Zelensky attended an interview for the representatives of Ukrainian media, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 4, 2022. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for full clarity on Wednesday on the circumstances of the crash of a Russian plane in a Russian border region and accused Moscow of “playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners of war.”

“It is clear that the Russians are playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners, the feelings of their loved ones, and the emotions of our society,” Zelensky said in his nightly video broadcast.

Russian officials accuse Ukraine of deliberately shooting down the Il-76 military transport and said it was carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) due to take part in a swap.

In November 2023, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported that Russia is sending Ukrainian prisoners of war to the front lines of their homeland to fight on Moscow’s side in the war.

READ: UN accuses Russia, Ukraine forces of ‘summary executions’ of prisoners

It said the soldiers swore allegiance to Russia when they joined the battalion, which entered service the month before.

Experts have said such actions would be an apparent violation of the Geneva Conventions relating to the treatment of POWs, which forbids them from being exposed to combat or from working in unhealthy or dangerous conditions – coerced or not. — with reports from the Associated Press