In a development facilitated by the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Ukraine exchanged 146 prisoners of war (POW) each on Sunday, as confirmed by the Russian Defence Ministry and the Ukrainian President.
The Russian ministry said all of the freed Russians were in Belarus receiving psychological and medical assistance.
Ukraine also returned to Moscow eight Russian citizens, residents of the Kursk region, the ministry said.
Zelenskyy Thanks UAE
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, writing on the Telegram messaging app, announced that the exchange had taken place, but gave no figures.
The president posted pictures of smiling returnees, saying most of them had been in captivity since 2022, when Russia invaded its smaller neighbour. He said a journalist taken prisoner a month after the invasion was among them.
Zelenskyy thanked the United Arab Emirates for its role in overseeing the swap.
“The exchanges are continuing. Perhaps that is possible because of our soldiers, who are increasing the exchange fund for Ukraine,” the president wrote, referring to the capture of Russian servicemen.
The Ukrainian military issued a statement confirming that a total of 146 prisoners from each side had been swapped.
Journalists, Mayor Released
According to AFP, two Ukrainian journalists, Dmytro Khyliuk and Mark Kaliush, were released during the swap. The development was confirmed by Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War in a statement on Telegram.
“They were illegally detained by the occupiers in 2022 and 2023,” the statement added.
Also freed was former Kherson mayor Volodymyr Mykolayenko, reports said.
Medinsky Blames Ukraine
Vladimir Medinsky, who has led the Russian side in three rounds of talks on a settlement in Turkey since May, said Ukraine was being slow in returning civilians to Kursk, a Russian region where Kyiv’s forces staged a mass incursion a year ago.
He said more than 20 residents were waiting to go home.
“Three months have passed and residents of Kursk region are not being returned but are being exchanged in small groups for some people needed by Ukraine,” he wrote on Telegram. “Russia is engaged in painful bargaining to get civilians returned.”
(With Inputs from Reuters)
