UAE-mediated swap marks first stage of planned 1,000-for-1,000 exchange.
On Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that 205 servicemen were returned from Ukraine-controlled territory in exchange for 205 Ukrainian troops. The exchange was facilitated through humanitarian mediation by the United Arab Emirates.
The released Russian soldiers are currently in Belarus, where they are receiving medical and psychological assistance before being transferred to Russia for further treatment and rehabilitation.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the 205 servicemen from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the National Guard and the State Border Guard Service have returned home.
“It is the first stage of the 1,000-for-1,000 exchange,” he wrote on social media, referring to the swap agreed upon in early May with U.S. President Donald Trump.
This humanitarian operation was initially agreed upon in exchange for Kiev joining the truce declared by Moscow on the occasion of the May 9 celebration marking the anniversary of the Soviet victory over the Nazis. The truce was extended through May 11.
According to Zelensky, many of those returned to Ukraine in this exchange had been held captive since 2022, the year in which the Russian special military operation began.
On Friday, Russia also handed over to Ukraine the bodies of 526 military personnel killed in combat, while the Ukrainian side returned 41 remains of Russian servicemen. This occurred hours after Moscow and Kiev carried out the prisoner-of-war exchange.
The previous exchange of bodies took place on April 9, when Russia handed over 1,000 corpses and received 41 bodies of Russian soldiers. The previous prisoner swap, involving 193 prisoners from each side, took place on April 24.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE – Xinhua
0 Comentarios