Russia returned 60 Ukrainians to their home country last week, including people facing deportation and others with disabilities, Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said Monday.
Ukrainian officials had announced the return of their citizens last Tuesday, the same day the exchange took place.
Moskalkova, who said 15 Russian citizens were also repatriated from Ukraine, noted that the transfer took place at the border between Belarus and Ukraine.
According to her account, 45 of the Ukrainians had been held at temporary detention centers for foreigners and were facing deportation. They had requested to be sent to Ukraine, she said.
Another 15 were brought to safety from the Russian-occupied Kherson region in southern Ukraine, a process Moskalkova said was complicated by shelling.
Ukrainian human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets said last Tuesday that most of those 15 individuals from Kherson had mobility impairments. He described the exchange as reuniting families separated for years.
“Today, a mother and daughter will see each other for the first time in almost four years,” Lubinets wrote on Telegram.
Lubinets said he and Moskalkova had also exchanged lists of missing persons, including civilians who disappeared under unclear circumstances, as well as lists of wounded and critically ill civilians and people detained unlawfully.
Moskalkova said the exchange resulted in the reunification of 22 families from both countries and described it as a humanitarian operation.
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