KYIV: Russia and Ukraine exchanged 205 prisoners of conflict every on Friday (Might 15), Moscow and Kyiv mentioned, every week after US President Donald Trump introduced a big swap would happen between the warring sides.
The Russian defence ministry mentioned in an announcement on social media that “205 Russian servicemen have been returned from territory” managed by Kyiv, including that, “in change, 205 Ukrainian armed forces prisoners of conflict have been transferred”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned on Telegram a lot of the Ukrainians handed over had been in Russian captivity since 2022.
Trump mentioned final week that Russia and Ukraine would perform a mutual swap of 1,000 prisoners as he introduced a three-day US-brokered ceasefire that lined Russia’s Might 9 parade celebrating the defeat of the Nazis.
Each side have traded accusations of violating the truce and Ukraine has accused Moscow of ramping up its strikes in opposition to civilians after it expired, killing at least 24 in an air barrage on Kyiv on Thursday.
“That is the primary part of the 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner change,” Zelenskyy mentioned.
He posted photos of the launched Ukrainians, wrapped in nationwide blue-and-yellow flags, smiling and embracing one another.
Zelenskyy mentioned they included troops who fought within the bloody battle for Mariupol’s steelworks Azovtsal and those that defended Chernobyl, which briefly fell to Moscow at the beginning of its invasion.
The POW swaps stay one of many few remaining areas of cooperation between the 2 sides, at conflict since Russia ordered troops into its neighbour in February 2022.
Moscow’s defence ministry mentioned its troops have been dropped at its ally Belarus, the place “they’re receiving the required psychological and medical help”.
It added that “the United Arab Emirates offered humanitarian help through the return of the Russian servicemen from captivity”.
