UN calls for early exchange of prisoners between Russia & Ukraine amid ongoing war

As the ongoing ravaging war in Eastern Europe continues to escalate unabated, the United Nations (UN) has called for an early exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine. This was stated by UN Secretary-General António Guterres while addressing a joint press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Anderson on Wednesday. The Secretary-General also indicated that the UN will play its role in the evacuation of prisoners from Russia, referring to those who surrendered at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. 

"The UN was involved in the evacuation of civilians from Azovstal. The UN was not directly involved in the evacuation of the military, because this is not our competence. What we insisted on was the need for an exchange of prisoners as soon as possible so that this problem could be resolved in a certain way," Guterres remarked, RIA Novosti news agency reported. Earlier on May 21, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that Ukrainian soldiers from Azovstal must return home as part of a prisoner swap. He stated that the Mariupol defenders who were withdrawn from the Azovstal plant, should be exchanged. 

Zelenskyy signs law on social protection of political prisoners & POWs

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian President has also signed a law on the social and legal protection of political prisoners and prisoners of war (POWs) and members of their families. Zelenskyy stated that this law is also for the people of Crimea who are deprived of their liberty in their native homes by foreigners, and for those who have been deported to Russia and are being held in jails. Earlier in January this year, the Ukrainian parliament passed a bill on the social and legal protection of people deprived of personal liberty as a result of armed aggression against Ukraine. 

Russia-Ukraine war overshadowing issues like climate change: Guterres

According to the UN chief, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine is diverting attention away from climate change while also highlighting the world's "suicidal" reliance on fossil fuels. Guterres said the scale of the violence has naturally turned the focus away from other matters, including as measures to slow global warming. "The sense of urgency in the debate on climate has of course suffered from the war in Ukraine. But I think this war has demonstrated one thing: How fragile is the world in its dependence on fossil fuels," the Secretary-General asserted, as per the AP. 

Image: AP/Instagram/@ antonioguterres