Russia and Ukraine exchange 95 prisoners of war
Russia and Ukraine have released a total of 190 captured soldiers in the latest prisoner exchange between the two sides, officials in Moscow and Kiev announced on Wednesday.
Over the course of the war, thousands of prisoners of war were released in more than 50 individual exchanges – an area where the two sides have been able to reach rare agreements since the Russian invasion in February 2022.
Both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that 95 of their soldiers had been released.
“We continue to bring our people home. Another 95 defenders have been released from Russian captivity,” Zelensky said in a Telegram post.
He said the exchange was brokered by the United Arab Emirates.
“As a result of a negotiation process, 95 Russian soldiers … were returned,” the Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in June that 1,348 Russian soldiers were being held in Ukrainian captivity and that Russia had arrested 6,465 Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Exchanges occurred sporadically throughout the conflict.
In a rare case of direct talks between officials from Moscow and Kyiv, Russian human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said her office met with a counterpart from Ukraine during the exchange.
The first such meeting took place during an exchange in June, Ukrainian human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets told AFP at the time.
The officials discussed “joint humanitarian actions, including those related to family reunification,” Moskalkova said.
Kyiv accuses Russia of forcibly deporting thousands of Ukrainian children from areas that came under Moscow’s control and is trying to secure their return.
Moscow says the children were relocated for their own protection.
Some have been returned, including through deals brokered by Qatar.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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