Russia and Ukraine say they have completed a prisoner exchange

MOSCOW/KYIV: Russia and Ukraine said on Wednesday they had completed a prisoner exchange, the first since the crash last week of a Russian military transport plane that Moscow says was carrying 65 Ukrainian soldiers ahead of a similar swap.

The Russian Defense Ministry said each side had got 195 soldiers back and that its own soldiers would be flown to Moscow to receive medical and psychological treatment.

It was cited by the RIA state news agency as saying that the United Arab Emirates had played a role in brokering the deal.

“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 defense ministry said in a statement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on his official account on X that it was one of the biggest swaps so far. He gave a slightly higher number for the number of Ukrainians returned.

“Our people are back. 207 of them. We return them home no matter what,” said Zelensky.

Ukraine’s governmental body in charge of PoWs said that what was the 50th prisoner exchange of its kind had returned home soldiers involved in the defense of the cities of Mariupol and Kherson as well as soldiers captured by Russia on Snake Island in the Black Sea.

It said marines and combat medics were among those handed back and said that 36 of the returned Ukrainians had injuries or serious illnesses.

The two countries have carried out periodic prisoner swaps via intermediaries since the war began nearly two years ago, despite the absence of any peace talks between them since the early months of the conflict.

The latest and biggest exchange was on Jan. 3, when they traded a total of 478 captives following mediation by the United Arab Emirates.

Russia says Ukraine shot down the plane carrying prisoners for last week’s swap with a ground-to-air missile and that all 74 people on board were killed.

Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied that it downed the plane, and has demanded proof of who was on board.