Russia and Ukraine have each exchanged 146 prisoners of war (POWs) after mediation by the United Arab Emirates, the Russian Ministry of Defence says about the latest in a series of exchanges that has seen hundreds of POWs released this year.
“On August 24, 146 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory controlled” by Kyiv, the ministry said on Telegram on Sunday.
“In exchange, 146 prisoners of war of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were transferred” to Ukraine, it added.
The ministry said the freed Russians were in Belarus receiving psychological and medical care.
Large-scale prisoner exchanges were the only tangible result of three rounds of talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul from May to July.
They remain one of the few areas of cooperation between the two countries since Russia’s war on its neighbour began in 2022.
Russia also said “eight citizens of the Russian Federation – residents of the Kursk region, illegally detained” by Kyiv, were also returned as part of the exchange. Kursk sits on the border with Ukraine.
On Sunday, Russia also accused Ukraine of carrying out an overnight drone attack on a nuclear plant that caused a fire and damaged an auxiliary transformer.
The attack forced a 50 percent reduction in the operating capacity at reactor number three at the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, 60km (38 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border, according to Russian officials, who added that several power and energy facilities were targeted in the strikes.
US revokes permission
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Washington has revoked permission for strikes in Russia with United States-manufactured weapons, confirming an earlier report in US media.
He added that Kyiv has lately been using its own weapons to hit its enemy and does not consult on this with Washington.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov slammed Zelenskyy on Sunday for “obstinately insisting, setting conditions, demanding an immediate meeting at all costs” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The developments came as Ukraine marked its Independence Day on Sunday, commemorating its 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.
The efforts to settle the conflict have been ongoing since US President Donald Trump held talks in Alaska with Putin a week ago, but Trump has been unable thus far to coax Putin into a meeting with Zelenskyy.
Trump said on Friday that in two weeks he should know whether progress is possible in his bid to end the Russia-Ukraine war as he again raised the prospect of imposing sanctions on Moscow.
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