Iryna Vereschyuk, Ukraine’s Deputy PM, said 1700 Ukrainians including 700 soldiers and 500 women were taken as prisoners by Russian troops after their invasion started.

While Ukraine and Russia have ‘parity’ in current numbers of PoWs,  Vereshchuk said,  Kyiv will not swap Russian captured soldiers for Ukrainian civilian hostages as the Geneva Convention outlawed such mistreatment of non-military persons.

Moscow has also balked at prisoners’ exchange lists offered by Ukraine and remains very ‘selective’ about swapping the hostages.

‘Russians have completely disregarded the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War. The main task of Ukrainians taken as prisoners is survival,’ added Vereshchuk.