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Scenes of relief: This Ukrainian was among the soldiers who were exchanged for Russian prisoners of war
Photo: AFP
Kiev and Moscow have rarely exchanged so many prisoners in one fell swoop since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on his social media channels that more than 200 prisoners had returned to Ukraine.
»Our people are back. 207 of them. We'll bring her home no matter what happens." He added: »We remember every Ukrainian in captivity. Both fighters and civilians. We have to bring them all back. We're working on that." Zelensky also thanked his staff and posted pictures showing the prisoners' return. Russia's Defense Ministry said an exchange of 195 prisoners had been held with Ukraine.
The Ukrainian government agency responsible for prisoners of war announced that this was the 50th prisoner exchange with Russia. Those freed included fighters involved in the defense of the cities of Mariupol and Kherson, as well as soldiers captured by Russia on Snake Island in the Black Sea. According to the report, the returning soldiers also included Marines and combat medics. 36 of the Ukrainians who returned were injured or seriously ill.
Still unclear about crashed plane
The two countries have exchanged prisoners regularly since the war began nearly two years ago. The last and largest exchange took place on January 3, when the two countries exchanged a total of 478 prisoners through the intervention of the United Arab Emirates.
Russia claims that Ukraine shot down a plane carrying prisoners for the exchange originally scheduled for last week with a surface-to-air missile, killing all 74 people on board (read more here). Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied that it shot down the plane and has demanded evidence of those on board.
col/Reuters/AP