07/17/2024July 17, 2024
Russia and Ukraine conduct prisoner exchange of 190 soldiers
Russia and Ukraine have released a total of 190 captured soldiers in the latest prisoner exchange between the two sides, officials in Moscow and Kyiv have announced.
Ukrainian President and the Russian Defense Ministry each said 95 of their soldiers had been freed after the United Arab Emirates acted as an intermediary.
Zelenskyy said that the freed Ukrainian prisoners were members of the Ukrainian armed forces, the national guard and the border guard service. In his post on X, formerly Twitter, Zelenskyy thanked the United Arab Emirates for its help in facilitating the swap.
Among the released Ukrainians were some who had spent more than two years in captivity.
Around 3,400 people have returned from Russian captivity since the outbreak of the war, the country’s Coordination Headquarters for POWs said. Ukrainian POWs suffer routine medical neglect, mistreatment and even torture, the UN said.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Defence Ministry, in a statement on the Telegram messaging app, said the returning Russian soldiers would be flown to Moscow for medical examinations and physical and psychological rehabilitation.
The prisoner swap was the third of its kind in the past seven weeks. In the previous exchange, which took place in June and was also facilitated by the UAE, Russia and Ukraine each returned 90 prisoners.
dh/rm (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)
The post Ukraine updates: 190 prisoners of war released in exchange appeared first on Deutsche Welle.