Russia and Ukraine Conduct Eighth Prisoner Exchange, Swapping 206 Captives with UAE Mediation
A Ukrainian captivated soldier rejoices over the swap. (AFP: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service)
The United Arab Emirates has brokered a trade involving 206 prisoners of war between Russia and Ukraine, as reported by Emirati state news agency WAM on Saturday.
President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Russia’s defense ministry both acknowledged that each nation retrieved 103 POWs in this exchange.
“Our people are home,” Mr. Zelenskyy conveyed on the Telegram messaging platform.
“We successfully liberated another 103 warriors from Russian confinement and brought them back to Ukraine.”
He shared photographs of soldiers swathed in the national blue and yellow flag, embracing each other, chatting on mobile phones, and posing for group snapshots at a secret location.
Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian ombudsman, posted a brief clip on the Telegram app, showing the soldiers standing in front of a bus, chanting, “Glory to Ukraine.”
He mentioned that most of the liberated Ukrainians had been held by Russia since the invasion’s early phase.
Russia’s defense ministry announced that their returned POWs are now on Belarusian soil and are receiving essential psychological and medical care, along with the chance to reach out to their families.
It was disclosed that the Russian soldiers exchanged on Saturday had been captured in Russia’s Kursk region.
Ukrainian troops seized control in that area last month during their first significant foray into Russian territory.
Saturday’s exchange marked the third since that engagement.
Ukrainian officials previously said their forces had detained at least 600 Russian soldiers during the advance, suggesting this would facilitate the return of captured Ukrainians.
Mr. Lubinets noted that Kyiv has managed to bring back 3,672 Ukrainians through 57 exchanges thus far.
This latest POW swap represents the second exchange between Russia and Ukraine within two days and the eighth mediated by the UAE.
A prisoner swap facilitated by the UAE two weeks back resulted in Russia and Ukraine each trading 115 prisoners.
Despite the ongoing skirmish, Russia and Ukraine have successfully exchanged hundreds of POWs amid the two-and-half-year conflict – often with deals brokered by the UAE, Saudi Arabia, or Turkey.
