Ukraine and Russia exchanged 189 Ukrainian prisoners of war for 150 Russian servicemen. The exchange, facilitated by the United Arab Emirates, took place in Belarus. Among the released Ukrainians are soldiers, sergeants, officers, and two civilians captured in Mariupol.
Ukrainian prisoners of war wrapped with national flags embrace each other as they return after a swap in an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Dec. 30.Ukraine and Russia carried out a new exchange of prisoners of war on Monday, with Kyiv bringing home 189 former captives, President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Monday. The Russian ministry said 150 Russian servicemen were returning home. It said the Russian captives had been released in Belarus , Moscow’s close ally.
Pictures posted on Zelensky’s Telegram channel showed servicemen, some wrapped in blue-and-yellow national flags embracing tearful family members well after dark outside a building.“We’ll soon be home. How are the children? How is our boy?” said one man. “I am overwhelmed by emotion,” said another. “I still can’t quite believe that this has happened, that I am back home, that the ministry made such efforts, that we are remembered and valued.” Zelensky thanked United Arab Emirates authorities and other partners for facilitating the swap. The United Arab Emirates acknowledged it had helped arrange the exchange. “The return of our people from Russian captivity is always very good news for each of us. And today is one of such days: our team managed to bring 189 Ukrainians home,” Zelensky said on Telegram. There was no immediate explanation for why more Ukrainians were listed as released than Russians, but the released Ukrainians included civilians who had been in Russian captivity. Zelensky said the returning Ukrainians included soldiers, sergeants and officers from front line areas and two civilians who had been captured in the southern port of Mariupol, taken by the Russian troops during a nearly three-month siege in 2022. Denys Prokopenko, Commander of the 12th Special Forces “Azov” Brigade that defended the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol before it was captured by Russian forces, said 11 of his men were among those returnin
PRISONER EXCHANGE UKRAINE RUSSIA BELARUS WAR
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