It’s the second such trade since Ukraine launched a shock incursion into Russia’s Kursk area on August 6.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged 103 prisoners of warfare from either side, each nations confirmed, with the United Arab Emirates appearing as an middleman.
The Russian Ministry of Defence mentioned on Saturday that it swapped 103 Ukrainian troopers held captive for an equal variety of Russian POWs.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned: “Our persons are residence.”
The trade of a complete of 206 prisoners was facilitated within the UAE’s eighth such mediation, the Gulf nation’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs mentioned in a press release on social media platform X.
“We’ve efficiently introduced again one other 103 warriors from Russian captivity to Ukraine,” Zelenskyy posted on X on Saturday.
The freed Ukrainians included 82 privates and sergeants and 21 officers from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Nationwide Guard of Ukraine, border guards, and cops, he mentioned.
The Russian Defence Ministry mentioned “103 Russian servicemen captured within the Kursk area have been returned from territory managed by the Kyiv regime” including that “in return, 103 Ukrainian military prisoners of warfare have been handed over”.
Ukrainian forces crossed the border into western Kursk final month aided with drones, heavy weaponry and artillery, catching Russia off-guard.
The Russian POWs have been in Belarus “the place they’re being supplied with the mandatory psychological and medical help, in addition to a chance to contact their kinfolk”, in accordance with the Defence Ministry in Moscow.
In August, the 2 nations exchanged 115 POWs every, with the UAE appearing as an middleman.
Each side have carried out periodic prisoner swaps through intermediaries since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, regardless of the absence of any peace talks between them for the reason that early months of the battle.
The UAE ministry mentioned on Saturday that the full variety of captives exchanged by its mediation efforts now stood at 1,994.
One of many greatest exchanges was on January 3, when the warring nations traded a complete of 478 captives following mediation by the UAE.
