Kyiv:
Russia and Ukraine carried out a significant alternate of 206 prisoners on Saturday, 103 apiece, of their second such swap in two days, following negotiations mediated by the United Arab Emirates, officers stated. President Volodymyr Zelensky credited the discharge of the prisoners to his forces’ current incursion into Russia. The launched Ukrainians — 82 troopers and privates and 21 officers — had been held because the early months of the conflict, he stated.
The Russian Defence Ministry stated that the 103 Russian troopers exchanged had been taken prisoner within the border Kursk area the place Ukrainian forces launched the shock incursion in August.
“Our individuals are residence,” Zelensky stated on the Telegram messaging app. “Now we have efficiently introduced again one other 103 warriors from Russian captivity to Ukraine.”
In his nightly video tackle, he thanked his fight forces for his or her braveness and the staff dealing with the exchanges. “Particularly, our operation within the Kursk area gave a needed increase,” he added.
Zelensky posted photos of servicemen wrapped within the nationwide blue and yellow flag, hugging one another, speaking on cell phones and posing for group images at an undisclosed location.
In his video tackle, he stated these launched included troopers who fought to defend the town of Mariupol. The Azov brigade, which took half within the three-month defence of the port in 2022, stated in a submit on its Telegram channel that 23 of its males have been among the many captives launched on Saturday.
The alternate was mediated by the UAE, Emirati state information company WAM stated. It was the nation’s eighth such mediation because the begin of 2024, it stated.
Kyiv and Moscow have steadily exchanged prisoners since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, and Saturday’s swap was the third since Ukraine started a cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk area in early August.
Ukrainian officers have beforehand stated Kyiv’s forces had captured not less than 600 Russian troopers in the course of the incursion, and that this may assist it safe the return of captured Ukrainians.
Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman stated that Kyiv had up to now secured the return of three,672 Ukrainians in 57 exchanges.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)