Ukraine and Russia exchanged 270 individuals on Friday in the third stage of prisoner swaps. This exchange followed a process that began on August 19. President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in a statement that 261 military personnel and 9 civilians returned to Ukraine.
Details of the prisoner exchange
Zelensky added: "Most of those released are fighters who defended Ukraine in Mariupol. Defenders from the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Kherson, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, and Chernihiv are also returning. Many of them had been illegally sentenced in Russia. Among the returnees, there are five individuals who were believed to have been killed in a Russian terrorist attack in Olenivka in July 2022." He described this exchange as "a very significant outcome."
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Confirmation of the exchange by Moscow
The Russian Ministry of Defense also announced in a statement that the 270 exchanged Russian prisoners are present in Belarus. This exchange occurred following an agreement established in May by the administration of Donald Trump, the former President of the United States, between the parties. Zelensky announced at that time that this process was expected to involve a total of 2000 prisoners of war. The latest wave of exchanges took place soon after the conclusion of another round of negotiations in Oslo and St. Petersburg.
Ukraine's gratitude for international assistance
Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war issued a statement thanking the United States and the United Arab Emirates, particularly expressing gratitude to all those who assisted in the release of Steven Hubbard, a 74-year-old English teacher from Izyum who had been illegally sentenced and tortured. Most of the military personnel handed over to Ukraine had been in detention since 2022, with some even captured during the years 2018 and 2020 during the war in Donbas.
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