Russia, Ukraine exchange hundreds of prisoners of war

Russia and Ukraine have exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war in a deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Russian defence ministry said it had swapped 150 Ukrainian soldiers held captive for an equal number of Russian troops. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy said 189 Ukrainians had returned home. He added that those released included “defenders of Azovstal and Mariupol”, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and Snake Island. 

In May 2022, Russia declared victory after a months-long battle to conquer the south-eastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, with the last fighters defending the city’s Azovstal steel plant having surrendered. Russian troops seized Chernobyl in the country’s north-west at the beginning of their invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but later handed back control of



the plant to its employees. Snake Island was also seized in 2022 and the Ukrainian soldiers were taken prisoner, but later exchanged for Russian captives. 

Zelensky said two civilians captured in Mariupol were among dozens of soldiers, sergeants, border guards and officers released today. The Russian defence ministry today said, newly released Russian troops were in Belarus, an ally of Russia, and were being given medical assistance and the chance to contact their families. Before the latest swap, there had been just 10 prisoner exchanges between the countries this year, the lowest number since the full-scale invasion began. Ukraine said Moscow had released 3,956 people, including soldiers and civilians, in deals with Kyiv since the start of the conflict.