The crash of a aircraft carrying prisoners of struggle had forged doubt on the way forward for prisoner exchanges.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged tons of of prisoners of struggle, within the first prisoner swap because the crash final week of a Russian army transport aircraft that Moscow says was carrying 65 Ukrainian troopers.
The Russian Ministry of Defence mentioned that every aspect obtained 195 troopers again and that its troopers could be flown to Moscow to obtain medical and psychological therapy.
“On January 31, as a result of the negotiation process, 195 Russian servicemen who were in mortal danger in captivity were returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime. In return, exactly 195 prisoners from the armed forces of Ukraine were handed over,” the Defence Ministry mentioned in an announcement.
It was cited by the RIA state information company as saying that the United Arab Emirates had performed a job in brokering the deal.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned on his official account on X that it was one of many largest swaps to this point.
He gave a barely larger quantity for the variety of Ukrainians returned. “Our people are back. 207 of them. We return them home no matter what,” mentioned Zelenskyy.
Ukraine’s governmental physique accountable for POWs mentioned that this was the fiftieth prisoner alternate of its type. It returned dwelling troopers concerned within the defence of the cities of Mariupol and Kherson, in addition to troopers captured by Russia on Snake Island within the Black Sea.
The physique mentioned marines and fight medics had been amongst these handed again and that 36 of the returned Ukrainians had accidents or severe diseases.
The 2 international locations have carried out periodic prisoner swaps through intermediaries because the struggle started practically two years in the past, regardless of the absence of any peace talks between them because the early months of the battle.
The newest and largest alternate was on January 3, after they traded a complete of 478 captives following mediation by the UAE.
The crash on January 24 of a Russian Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft in a subject earlier than the same deliberate swap had thrown doubt on the way forward for prisoner exchanges between the 2 sides.
Moscow mentioned Ukrainian troopers being carried to a scheduled alternate had been killed when the aircraft was shot down by Kyiv’s forces. Kyiv has not outright denied Moscow’s model of occasions however questioned whether or not captured Ukrainian troopers had been truly on board.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday mentioned {that a} US-made Patriot missile was used to shoot down the army cargo aircraft.
“The plane was shot down, it has already been established for certain, by an American Patriot system,” Putin mentioned in a televised look.
