KIEV, Sept 14 (Askume) – Russia and Ukraine carried out a large-scale prisoner swap on Saturday, with a total of 206 inmates swapped, with 103 prisoners from each side, officials said, the second exchange in two days following talks brokered by the United Arab Emirates.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attributed the prisoners’ release to his army’s recent incursion into Russia. He said the Ukrainians had released 82 soldiers and privates and 21 officers who had been held captive since the early months of the war.
The Russian Defence Ministry said the 103 Russian servicemen who were exchanged were captured in the Kursk region on the border where Ukrainian troops launched a surprise offensive in August.
“Our people are home,” Zelensky said on the Telegram messaging app. “We have successfully repatriated 103 combatants imprisoned by Russia to Ukraine.”
In his midnight video address, he thanked his combat troops for their courage and the team that handled the exchange. “Our operations, especially in the Kursk region, provided the necessary boost,” he said.
Zelensky posted photos of soldiers wearing blue and yellow flags, hugging each other, talking on their cellphones and posing for a group photo at an undisclosed location.
He said in a video speech that those released included soldiers fighting to defend the city of Mariupol. The Azov Brigade, which is taking part in the three-month port defense battle in 2022, posted on its Telegram channel that the prisoners released on Saturday included 23 officers and soldiers.
The deal was brokered by the United Arab Emirates, Emirati state news agency WAM reported. It added that it was the eighth such brokered in the country since the start of 2024.
Kiev and Moscow have frequently swapped prisoners since the Russian invasion in February 2022, and Saturday’s swap was the third since Ukraine launched a cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in early August.
Ukrainian officials previously said Kiev forces had captured at least 600 Russian soldiers during the offensive and would help secure the return of the captured Ukrainians.
Ukrainian human rights monitor Dmytro Lubinets said Kiev had so far ensured the return of 3,672 Ukrainians through 57 exchanges.
