Ukrainians in Russian prisons face the harshest treatment – Zelenskyy
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that prisons in Russia and Belarus are essentially no different, functioning as repressive mechanisms marked by cruel treatment of people. According to him, Ukrainians held in Russian prisons face the greatest pressure compared to political prisoners from other countries.
He made the remarks in an interview with the Belarusian independent media outlet Zerkalo, as cited on his Telegram channel.
“About 7,000 Ukrainians are being held in Russian prisons. I do not believe that Russian prisons differ in any way from Belarusian ones. These are identical regimes, driven by hatred towards people. The only difference is that Belarusians are imprisoned in Belarus, while Ukrainians are imprisoned in Russia. And they treat Ukrainians more harshly than political prisoners who are citizens of other states,” he stressed.
Zelenskyy acknowledged that securing the release of prisoners is extremely difficult.
“Everything requires negotiations. Regarding Lukashenko, we can negotiate with the Americans. We are ready to help, and we have helped when the Americans conducted negotiations with Lukashenko: we provided our territory, transport, and medical assistance for those Belarusian political prisoners who were released. We evacuated them through our territory,” he said.
The president emphasised that Ukraine is ready to continue providing any possible assistance to Belarusian prisoners.
“But freeing people from prisons is very difficult. You always have to exchange someone for someone. To free Belarusians, you need to find something to exchange. The Americans found a way to arrange exchanges,” he added.
It is worth recalling that a massive drone strike paralysed the energy system of Belgorod in Russia.
Earlier reports also stated that the Armed Forces of Ukraine once again caused power outages in Belgorod.
In addition, there will reportedly be no hot water in Belgorod until the end of April.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Defence Forces refuted a Russian fake claim about the alleged capture of Ternuvate in the Zaporizhzhia region.
