MOSCOW - Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday that Ukraine was essentially sabotaging the process of exchanging prisoners of war.

       Zakharova said that Russia's defence ministry had offered Kyiv to hand over 935 Ukrainian prisoners of war but that Ukraine had taken only 279.

       "Russia has never refused to have dialogue about exchanges of prisoners of war," Zakharova told reporters, adding that claims to the contrary were simply lies made up to discredit Russia.

       There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on Saturday. REUTERS