Ukraine and Russia carry out second major prisoner swap in 48 hours
In a span of 48 hours, Ukraine and Russia have conducted their second major prisoner exchange. According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, 103 soldiers have been successfully repatriated.
The repatriated Ukrainian servicemen include 82 privates and sergeants, and 21 officers. These soldiers hailed from various battlegrounds including Kyiv, Donbas, Mariupol and the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and the Kharkiv regions. President Zelensky extended his gratitude to the team responsible for orchestrating the exchange.
Among those returned are 23 members of the Azov Battalion, reported Senior Lieutenant Olena Tolkacheva, who is also the head of the Azov Angels Foundation.
"Today, 23 Azov Battalion members return to their homeland after more than two years in captivity," wrote Tolkacheva.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced the exchange in a statement on their official Telegram channel.
Currently, the Russian soldiers, including those captured during combat operations in the Kursk region, have returned to Belarus. They are receiving the necessary psychological and medical assistance, the ministry's statement detailed. The United Arab Emirates played a crucial role as the mediator in these negotiations.
The organization “Nash Vyhod (Out Exit)” which is dedicated to locating and returning captured Russian military personnel, released a detailed list of those involved in the two-day exchange. The list confirms that all exchanged Russians are from the Kursk region, and two-thirds of them are conscripts.
Just a day earlier, on September 13, another swap saw 49 Ukrainian civilians and soldiers return home, including 15 Azov Brigade members and four members of the Aidar Battalion who had long been excluded from exchange lists. Notably, the list also included Viktor Ivchuk, a military medic awarded the title "Hero of Ukraine," and Lenie Umerova, who was captured by Russian forces while visiting her sick father.