Ukraine, Russia exchange hundreds of POWs
- 8 February, 09:30
Ukraine and Russia have conducted another exchange of prisoners of war after mediation efforts by the United Arab Emirates.
One hundred prisoners were exchanged on both sides under a "100-to-100" formula, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on February 8. Posting on the Telegram app, the ministry said that the returning soldiers would undergo medical examinations in Moscow. The video posted by the ministry showed the hostages boarding a bus bound to Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also commented on the release of POWs in Telegram, pledging to bring back all hostages.
"We always remember our people in captivity, everyone. We need to get everyone back. We are working on that every day," Zelenskiy stressed.
He described the returning hostages as members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the National Guard and the border guard service, highlighting that most of them were defenders of the embattled city of Mariupol that fell to Russia’s hands in the early weeks of the war.
Ukraine's coordinating committee on prisoners of war said that of released POWs, 84 were fighters of Mariupol, while others had participated in heavy fighting in eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The latest prisoner swap between the two countries took place on January 31, with 195 Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel being swapped for 195 Russian troops. The prisoner exchange on January 31 was the first one since the fatal military cargo plane crash that had 65 Ukrainian hostages on board. Russia has accused Ukraine of shooting down the Il-76 military plane in the border Belgorod region. Ukraine has not confirmed Russia’s claims of downing the plane, while also demanding that Moscow returns the bodies of the Ukrainian hostages.
