More than 70 prisoners handed back to Ukraine by Russia

Ten Ukrainian officers were included in the swap

Ukrainian Roman Gribov, who was captured by Russian troops on Snake Island on February 24 and recently swapped for Russian POWs, receives an award (REUTERS)

Russia handed over 60 soldiers and 16 civilians to Ukraine in an exchange of prisoners of war, the Ukrainian deputy prime minister said Tuesday.

"This was the fifth exchange of prisoners of war. A total of 76 people," Iryna Vereshchuk said in a statement. The swap included 10 Ukrainian officers, she said.

The first exchange took place on 1 March in the Sumy region between five members of Ukraine’s territorial defense and one Russian military police officer, the chief of the military administration of Sumy said at the time via Telegram. The following four swaps took place in April.

Civilians and members of the military have been taken captive on both sides since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, including two British men captured by Russian troops while fighting in Ukraine.

Shaun Pinner, 48, and Aiden Aslin, 28, appeared in two separate videos on Rossiya 24 channel on Monday asking prime minister Boris Johnson to exchange them for pro-Kremlin politician Viktor Medvedchuk.

In March the United Nations called on both Russia and Ukraine to investigate mistreating of prisoners of war, following a video allegedly showing Ukrainians shooting three Russian captives in the legs.

“All the information in the videos that suggests abuse, and maybe worse, of POWs needs to be subject to an effective investigation,” said Human Rights Watch senior legal advisor Aisling Reidy,. “It should be possible to verify if abuse took place, and from there to hold those responsible to account.”

A still image taken from Russian state TV footage that it said shows Shaun Pinner, a British fighter captured in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol by Russian forces (via REUTERS)

Ukraine denied the veracity of the video and accused Russia of staged propaganda.

The alleged abuse of POWs is taking place against the backdrop of a new Russian assault on the eastern Donbas region. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavror on Tuesday said that “another phase of this operation is starting now.”

Further military operations are likely to result in another wave of civilian casualties and mass displacement.

More than 11 million people have already been displaced since the start of a war that the Kremlin has referred to as an operation to “denazify” Ukraine.