It’s the second such change since Ukraine launched a shock incursion into Russia’s Kursk area on August 6.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged 103 prisoners of battle from all sides, each international locations confirmed, with the United Arab Emirates appearing as an middleman.
The Russian Ministry of Defence stated on Saturday that it swapped 103 Ukrainian troopers held captive for an equal variety of Russian POWs.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated: “Our persons are residence.”
The change of a complete of 206 prisoners was facilitated within the UAE’s eighth such mediation, the Gulf nation’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs stated in a press release on social media platform X.
“We now have 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 stated.
The Russian Defence Ministry stated “103 Russian servicemen captured within the Kursk area had been returned from territory managed by the Kyiv regime” including that “in return, 103 Ukrainian military prisoners of battle had 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 had been in Belarus “the place they’re being supplied with the mandatory psychological and medical help, in addition to a possibility to contact their kinfolk”, in accordance with the Defence Ministry in Moscow.
In August, the 2 international locations exchanged 115 POWs every, with the UAE appearing as an middleman.
Each side have carried out periodic prisoner swaps by way of intermediaries since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, regardless of the absence of any peace talks between them because the early months of the battle.
The UAE ministry stated 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 international locations traded a complete of 478 captives following mediation by the UAE.