KYIV (Reuters) – Russia and Ukraine carried out a major alternate of detainees on Saturday, 206 in all, of their 2nd such swap in 2 days, adhering to preparations moderated by the United Arab Emirates, authorities said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that each one 103 Ukrainians returned had been from the military – 82 troopers and privates and 21 law enforcement officials.
Russian Defence Ministry said that the 103 Russian troopers traded had truly been apprehended within the boundary Kursk space the place Ukrainian pressures launched a shock assault in August.
“Our people are home,” Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging software. “We have successfully brought back another 103 warriors from Russian captivity to Ukraine.”
Zelenskiy uploaded pictures of servicemen lined within the nationwide blue and yellow flag, embracing every varied different, chatting on cellphones and posturing for staff images at an unrevealed place.
The alternate was moderated by the UAE, Emirati state info agency WAM said. It was the nation’s eighth such arbitration on condition that the start of 2024, it said.
Kyiv and Moscow have truly usually traded detainees on condition that Russia’s intrusion in February 2022, and Saturday’s swap was the third on condition that Ukraine began a cross-border assault proper into Russia’s Kursk space in very early August.
Ukrainian authorities have truly previously said its troopers had truly caught on the very least 600 Russian troopers all through the assault, which this will surely help it safeguard the return of caught Ukrainians.
Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s ombudsman, said many of the launched Ukrainians had truly remained in Russian bondage on condition that the very early days of the intrusion.
He uploaded a short video clip on the Telegram messaging software revealing the servicemen standing earlier than a bus and shouting “Glory to Ukraine.”
Lubinets said that Kyiv had truly till now protected the return of three,672 Ukrainians in 57 exchanges.
(Reporting by Olena Harmash in Kyiv and Adam Makary in Cairo, Editing by Louise Heavens)
