Zelensky preparing latest prisoner exchange in Israel visit

Ukrainian President Zelensky started a two-day working
visit to Israel on Jan. 23, during which he might meet with Russian President
Putin, the President’s Office said that day. If the two leaders meet, it will
be to discuss only the further exchange of war prisoners, the Office source
said, as reported by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

Negotiations on a prisoner exchange are occurring,
including lists of prisoners being prepared, Zelensky confirmed this morning,
as reported by the President’s Office website. “We prepared the list in Minsk,
and we will fill it with a list of established individuals. We are preparing
this track – an exchange with the temporarily occupied territories. And the
separate track – we have already begun a discussion with the Russian Federation
on the exchange of Ukrainians, everyone including Crimean Tatars, and other
Ukrainians, who are on Russia’s territory.”

Zenon Zawada: Putin is certain to use the event in Israel, a global forum on
Holocaust remembrance, to criticize Ukrainian nationalism, and smear the
government for cooperating with xenophobic groups during the war. This is part
of why Zelensky declined to attend this morning’s address by Putin, a gesture
also intended to protest Putin’s own intolerance towards Ukrainian identity and
statehood. Nonetheless, another prisoner exchange is realistic, with Zelensky
certain to draw more support from the majority of the Ukrainian public for his
efforts.