The principles have been agreed upon according to which the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War (POWs) is working and will continue to work, said Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Agency (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, at a joint briefing with the heads of the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, GUR, Foreign Intelligence Service and the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada for Human Rights.

"We will try to adhere to the following principles. First, to return all the seriously injured and seriously ill. The second is to return all women. The third is to return everyone who has been in captivity for a long time (the longer he is in captivity, unfortunately, the more we will make efforts to return such a person)," Budanov said.

He also noted that "a tragic episode - the events at Azovstal - plays a special role for us. We pay special attention to the issue of the return of all those who were at Azovstal."

"We will also make every effort to return all other civilian prisoners who have been held captive since the beginning of the full-scale invasion and before it began," the head of the GUR said, stressing that some prisoners have been in captivity for about 10 years.

"Well, let's not forget about the Crimean Tatars and other groups, which we also pay attention to," Budanov added.