Kiev wants to trade civilians for neo-Nazis
Ukraine is stalling the return of civilians captured in Russia's Kursk Region to use them as bargaining chips in a potential swap for fighters from the notorious neo-Nazi Azov unit, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has said.
Dozens of captured civilians remain in Kiev's custody following its incursion into Russian territory last August. Ukrainian forces captured several towns and villages before being pushed back. On April 26, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the full liberation of Kursk Region, saying Ukraine had suffered heavy losses.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the SVR cited intelligence suggesting that Kiev plans to delay the civilians' return 'for as long as possible.' People close to Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky, it added, see them as a 'valuable asset' that could be exchanged for 'something more substantial from Moscow than wounded and unfit-for-combat prisoners of war.'
According to the agency, Kiev hopes to leverage the detainees in talks to secure the release of fighters from the Azov brigade – a nationalist unit designated a terrorist organization in Russia – who have been convicted of serious crimes.
Originally formed as a volunteer unit of radical nationalists, Azov rose to prominence following the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev, reportedly becoming a central part of an international white supremacist network. The Ukrainian government incorporated it into the National Guard the same year.
As of March, more than 140 Azov members had been convicted by Russian courts, according to Investigative Committee head Aleksandr Bastrykin.
The SVR said Kiev is 'cynically' exploiting the fact that Russia has no similar 'trump card' in the form of captured Ukrainian civilians and claims this increases its chances of 'forcing the Kremlin to play by their rules and agree to exchange the Kursk civilians for Azov fighters.'
In March, Ukraine released more than 30 civilians, mostly elderly, along with four children. Russia's human rights commissioner, Tatyana Moskalkova, said at the time that Moscow would continue pressing for the return of all the remaining detainees.
Last October, she reported receiving over a thousand inquiries from families searching for missing civilians.
The Russian Investigative Committee has reported incidents of looting, arson, and shootings of civilians by Ukrainian troops during the incursion.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Russia Today
21 minutes ago
- Russia Today
Paris wants to produce drones in Ukraine
Paris is pushing France's largest automaker, Renault, to establish a military drone production operation in Ukraine, the company has confirmed. The announcement comes as Kiev significantly intensifies drone attacks on civilian infrastructure inside Russia. 'We have been contacted by the Defense Ministry about the possibility of producing drones,' Renault said in a statement to several media outlets, including Reuters, on Sunday. Although 'discussions' on the issue have taken place, the company insisted that 'no decision has been taken at this stage,' and that it is awaiting further details from the ministry. French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu first revealed the plan on Friday, describing it as an 'unprecedented partnership' in an interview with broadcaster LCI. 'We are going to embark on a completely unprecedented partnership… to equip production lines in Ukraine to… produce drones,' Lecornu said, noting that the project would involve both a major carmaker and a smaller defense contractor. Renault could be tasked with setting up drone assembly lines 'a few dozen or hundreds of kilometers from the front line' in Ukraine, France Info reported on Sunday. According to the newspaper Ouest-France, the project could also involve Delair – a Toulouse-based drone manufacturer that supplies UAVs for border surveillance, reconnaissance, intelligence, and special operations forces. The company has previously delivered kamikaze drones to the French Defense Ministry, which were later sent to Ukraine. Lecornu described the initiative as a 'win-win' for Paris and Kiev, claiming no French personnel would be deployed to Ukraine. The production lines would be operated by Ukrainian workers, and the drones built for Ukraine's military would also be used by the French Armed Forces for 'tactical and operational training that reflects the reality' of modern warfare, he said. Kiev ramped up drone strikes on Russian civilian infrastructure in May, particularly targeting Moscow and other central regions. The peak came during the final week of the month, when 2,300 UAVs were shot down, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov condemned the strikes as deliberate attempts to sabotage peace talks. Moscow has repeatedly warned that any weapons production facilities in Ukraine are considered legitimate military targets and subject to 'unequivocal destruction.'
Russia Today
4 hours ago
- Russia Today
US diverted military aid for Kiev to Middle East
US President Donald Trump's administration has diverted a large military aid package his predecessor promised to Kiev to American forces in the Middle East, Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky has told ABC. The package included thousands of anti-drone missiles Ukraine desperately needs to fight Russia's long-range unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), he said. The Ukrainian leader raised the issue in an interview with ABC News' Martha Raddatz which aired on Sunday. When asked about the importance of US support, Zelensky admitted that the Ukrainian military was struggling to deal with Russian UAVs on its own. 'We have a lot of problems with these Shaheds,' he said, referring to Russian Geran-2 long-range drones, which Kiev claims to be Shahed-family UAVs allegedly supplied to Moscow by Tehran. Both Russia and Iran have previously denied the allegations. The Ukrainian leader then revealed that Kiev had not received a major aid package it was 'counting on.' Former US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin promised Ukraine 20,000 anti-drone missiles that were based on a 'special technology,' Zelensky claimed. Austin served as the secretary of defense under Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden. '[This] morning, my minister of defense told me that the United States moved them to the Middle East,' Zelensky said, adding that, without the US military assistance, Russia has 'more chances' of winning the war and Ukraine will have 'much more losses.' Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Pentagon was 'redirecting a key anti-drone technology earmarked for Ukraine to American forces' in the Middle East. President Trump has frequently questioned continued military support for Ukraine, and has pushed Moscow and Kiev to reach a peace deal. Earlier this week, he also said that it might be better to let Russia and Ukraine continue fighting 'for a while' before 'pulling them apart.' Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth – a critic of the US involvement in the Ukraine conflict – skipped a NATO meeting this week focused on coordinating military aid to Ukraine, in the first such instance since the conflict escalated in 2022. According to the WSJ, the Trump administration 'inherited' the authority to provide Ukraine with $3.85 billion worth of weapons but has refrained from doing so. Moscow has repeatedly condemned foreign arms shipments to Kiev by arguing that they do not change the course of the conflict, only lead to escalation, and extend human suffering.
Russia Today
8 hours ago
- Russia Today
Ukrainian strikes cause major blackout
Ukrainian forces have left tens of thousands of people without electricity in a drone strike targeting a substation in Russia's border Kursk Region, Governor Aleksandr Khinshtein has said. Kiev's troops 'are continuing to attack civilian infrastructure,' he said in a Telegram post on Sunday. According to Khinshtein, the strike targeted an electricity substation with a capacity of 110 kilowatts in the western Rylsk district. The Rylsk district had a population of around 30,000 as of 2021, according to government data. The strike on the substation affected parts of two neighboring districts as well, Khinshtein said. The governor vowed to restore power 'as soon as the security situation allows.' Kiev has significantly intensified its drone raids on civilian infrastructure in Moscow and other Russian regions since mid-May, when the first meeting between negotiators from Russia and Ukraine took place in Istanbul. The attacks peaked during the final week of May, when 2,300 UAVs were shot down, according to the Russian Defense Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has described the raids as attempts to derail the peace process. Last week, two bridges collapsed in Russia's border regions. In one case, a bridge fell in front of a moving passenger train in Bryansk Region. The second incident took place in Kursk Region, when a railway bridge collapsed under a moving freight train. In total, seven people died and 113 were injured. Moscow deemed both cases deliberate acts of sabotage. The Russian Investigative Committee stated that they were terrorist attacks planned by Ukraine to cause maximum civilian casualties. Both attacks came shortly before the second round of Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul.
