Yesterday, Russia and Ukraine carried out an exchange of more than 200 prisoners of war on each side, in the largest mutual handover of captured people since the start of the war, on February 24, 2022.
“Ours are at home. More than 200 of our soldiers and civilians returned from Russian captivity,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on his Telegram channel.
The Russian Ministry of Defense, for its part, explained on its Telegram channel that, as a result of a complex negotiation process, 248 Russian servicemen were returned. He explained that the exchange was possible thanks to the mediation of the United Arab Emirates.
Zelensky noted that among the 230 released there are soldiers of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, the Navy and border guards, some of whom defended Mariupol and Azovstal in the spring of 2022.
His chief of staff, Andrí Yermak, added that teachers and a police officer have also returned to Ukraine, as well as military personnel captured on Snake Island by Russia and prisoners that Moscow took at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Moscow did not provide details on the identities of those released.
It was “a difficult exchange after a long pause. This is a result that was possible thanks to the great effort of the team,” Yermak celebrated the result of the negotiations.
For its part, the Foreign Ministry of the United Arab Emirates attributed the successful exchange to the “strong friendly relations between the United Arab Emirates and both the Russian Federation and the Republic of Ukraine, which were supported by sustained appeals at the highest levels. high.”
The Emirates has maintained close economic ties with Moscow despite Western sanctions and pressure on Russia after it launched its invasion in 2022.
