Russia conducted a prisoner swap with Ukraine amid the ongoing war that began on February 24, involving the release of female soldiers who stated that Russian soldiers shaved their heads. The Ukrainian newspaper "Kyiv Independent" published a photo of the Ukrainian female soldiers with shaved heads, flanked by Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, following the completion of the prisoner exchange. The image showed five female soldiers who had lost their hair, despite it being against Ukrainian military regulations for women to shave their heads.
Ukrainian sources reported that on April 1, Kyiv completed a prisoner swap with Moscow, receiving 86 Ukrainian military personnel, including 15 women, who experienced this treatment, which drew significant criticism. Dmitro Lubinets, the head of the Ukrainian Parliament's Human Rights Committee, stated that shaving the soldiers' heads is a sign of "humiliation, arrogance, and contempt."
These sources did not indicate how many Russian prisoners were released in return. Meanwhile, Russia did not publish any images of its military personnel who were freed in this exchange. Reports suggested that this could be due to the soldiers being in very poor condition, allegedly because they had been tortured. Moscow has repeatedly accused Kyiv of torturing the Russian soldiers captured during the war but has yet to comment on the incident involving the shaved heads of the Ukrainian female soldiers. The prisoner exchange followed negotiations that took place in Istanbul, Turkey, a few days prior.
