Russia, Ukraine Exchange Over 200 Prisoner-Of-War Under Swap Deal

Russia and Ukraine swapped 206 prisoners of war, including 103 Ukrainian and 103 Russian military personnel, mediated by the United Arab Emirates.

Ukrainian prisoners released by Russia under swap deal mediated by the United Arab Emirates.

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Russia and Ukraine agreed on a prisoners-of-war swap deal under which more than 200 military personnel from both sides will be able to return to their countries. 

The swap deal was mediated by the United Arab Emirates and involved 206 military personnel from both countries, reported the Guardian. 

Of the 103 Ukrainian "warriors" who were released, 82 were soldiers and privates and 21 were officers, including police officers and border guards, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He also said that his incursion by his forces into Kursk had helped bring about the prisoner exchange. 

He thanked his forces for their work on the prisoner exchanges during his nightly video address and said: "In particular, our operation in the Kursk region gave a necessary boost.”

In return for their freedom, Ukraine handed over 103 Russian military personnel who were taken as prisoners in the Kursk border region after Ukraine launched a surprise incursion in August. 

The Russian defence ministry said that all their released prisoners were in Belarus "where they are being provided with the necessary psychological and medical assistance, as well as an opportunity to contact their relatives." 

The prisoner swap was happening for the second time since Ukraine's incursion into the Kursk region and occurred after mediated negotiations between the two countries. Officials from UAE said that the 1,994 captives have been exchanged so far through its mediation efforts. 

On Saturday, Ukraine made a fresh call on the West to allow it to strike deeper into Russia. The call came after a meeting on Friday between US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, which failed to produce a visible shift in policies by the US and UK on the use of long-range weapons. 

For months, Zelenskyy has been pushing to use British Storm Shadow missiles, which can strike targets at least 300 kilometres away, to bomb airbases, missile sites, and other military targets inside Russia. 

But the US has so far allowed Kyiv to use American-provided weapons to strike within a limited area inside Russia's border with Ukraine. “Russian terror begins at weapons depots, airfields and military bases inside the Russian Federation,” the Ukrainian presidential adviser Andriy Yermak said on Saturday.