Russia and Ukraine complete first prisoner exchange since plane crash
Al Jazeera
The crash of a plane carrying prisoners of war had cast doubt on the future of prisoner exchanges.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war, in the first prisoner swap since the crash last week of a Russian military transport plane that Moscow says was carrying 65 Ukrainian soldiers.
The Russian Ministry of Defence said that each side got 195 soldiers back and that its soldiers would be flown to Moscow to receive medical and psychological treatment.
“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 Defence Ministry said in a statement.
It was cited by the RIA state news agency as saying that the United Arab Emirates had played a role in brokering the deal.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on his official account on X that it was one of the biggest swaps so far.
