Russia released on Wednesday 10 foreign prisoners of war in Ukraine after mediation by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry explained in a statement that the list of prisoners includes citizens of the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Croatia and Morocco, and said that a plane carrying the prisoners landed in the Kingdom, adding that "the concerned authorities in the Kingdom received them and transferred them from Russia to the Kingdom, and worked to facilitate the procedures for their return to their countries." .
The ministry did not specify the identity of the prisoners, but the French Press Agency quoted a Saudi official as saying that among them were 5 Britons and Americans, in addition to one person each from Morocco, Croatia and Sweden.
As for Reuters, it was not immediately confirmed whether the group of prisoners released included Britons Eden Aslin, Sean Benner and Moroccan-born Ibrahim Saadoun, who were arrested earlier this year and sentenced to death by a court in the Republic. The Donetsk People's Republic unilaterally declared its independence, and is among those fighting on behalf of Russia in eastern Ukraine.
In the context, official Saudi media reported that Prince Mohammed met yesterday, Tuesday, the special envoy of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, assuring him of the Kingdom's keenness and support for all international efforts aimed at resolving the crisis politically, and its continued efforts to contribute to alleviating the humanitarian impacts resulting from it.
foreign fighters
Previously, a large number of foreigners traveled to Ukraine to fight since the start of the Russian war on February 24, and Russian forces arrested some of them along with other foreigners in the country who said they were not fighters.
Hundreds of enemy fighters have been captured by Ukrainian and Russian forces since the beginning of the conflict, but the two sides have exchanged only a few prisoners.
And on Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced in an interview with the American channel "PBS" that Moscow and Kiev had agreed to "exchange 200 prisoners" in one of the largest exchanges during the seven-month-old war.
Erdogan did not mention any other details about this agreement, nor about the people involved and whether they are civilians or military personnel.