Russia And Ukraine Swap Hundreds Of Prisoners, Hours After Moscow's Largest Missile-And-Drone Attack
HuffPost
Russia and Ukraine have swapped hundreds more prisoners of war, the third part of a major swap that became a rare moment of cooperation in otherwise failed efforts to reach a ceasefire.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia and Ukraine swapped hundreds more prisoners on Sunday, the third and last part of a major exchange that reflected a rare moment of cooperation in otherwise failed efforts to reach a ceasefire in the more than three years of war.
Just hours earlier, Ukrainian capital, Kyiv and other regions came under a massive Russian drone-and-missile attack that killed at least 12 people and injured dozens. Ukrainian officials described it as the largest aerial assault since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said each side brought home 303 more soldiers, after each released a total of 307 combatants and civilians on Saturday, and 390 on Friday — the biggest swap of the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the exchange, saying on X on Sunday that “303 Ukrainian defenders are home.” He noted that the troops returning to Ukraine were members of the “Armed Forces, the National Guard, the State Border Guard Service, and the State Special Transport Service.”
In talks held in Istanbul earlier this month — the first time the two sides met face to face for peace talks since — Kyiv and Moscow agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners of war and civilian detainees each.
