MOSCOW, November 17. /TASS/. A heavily wounded Ukrainian POW said Kiev is reluctant to exchange soldiers like him as it does not want to provide medical assistance to them. Valery Vavko was mobilized last year. His lower body is paralyzed and he is therefore excluded from the exchange list.

"As for the exchange, I have heard that they do not want to take us for four months. They do not want to deal with heavily wounded, like me. They do not need us," he told TASS.

Vavko was mobilized in the city of Khmelnitsky in western Ukraine and served as a driver in the 95th assault brigade. He was wounded in the back near Kremennaya. Russian soldiers rescued him and provided assistance.

Ukrainian POWs told TASS they had been mobilized with major diseases, including eyesight problems, psychological and locomotor disorders. Some of them were handicapped people.