Russia and Ukraine release 200 soldiers in a prisoner exchange on New Year's Eve

Russia and Ukraine said on Saturday they had released more than 200 soldiers, the latest prisoner exchange between the two sides in the 10-month-old conflict.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that Ukraine had released 82 Russian soldiers, while Andrei Yermak, director of the Ukrainian President's Office, announced that Russia had handed over 140 Ukrainian soldiers to his country.

Yermak said in a message on his Telegram page that some of the released prisoners, 132 men and eight women, were wounded or fought in the defense of the Black Sea port city of Mariupol and on Snake Island.

Both sides have released hundreds of captured soldiers in several rounds of exchanges over the past few months, despite the complete breakdown of broader diplomatic talks between Moscow and Kiev.

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