CHERNIGIV, UKRAINE: Ukraine and Russia exchanged a new group of captured soldiers on Thursday (Jun 26), the latest in a series of prisoner swaps agreed during peace talks in Istanbul earlier this month.
Neither side disclosed how many individuals were released in the latest exchange.
The two countries had pledged to swap at least 1,000 soldiers each during their direct meeting in Istanbul on Jun 2. No follow-up talks have been scheduled.
The return of prisoners of war and repatriation of war dead have remained among the few areas of cooperation between the warring sides since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.
“Today, warriors of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, and the State Border Guard Service are returning home,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media.
He shared images of Ukrainian soldiers draped in blue-and-yellow national flags, smiling and tearfully embracing.
An AFP team in Ukraine’s northern Chernigiv region saw relatives awaiting the return of prisoners, some holding posters of missing or captured soldiers in the hope that someone would recognise their loved ones and share news.
Svitlana Nosal learned that her husband Viktor had been freed.
“It’s such a joy, I don’t know how to describe it, how to put it into words,” she said, laughing and crying in the late afternoon sun.
The majority of those released on Thursday had been held captive for more than three years, according to Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
Many were taken prisoner in Mariupol, a Ukrainian port city that fell to Russian forces in 2022 following a nearly three-month siege.
Russia said its soldiers had been transferred to Belarus and were receiving psychological and medical care.
“Another group of Russian servicemen has been returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime,” the defence ministry said in a statement.
A video posted by the ministry showed freed Russian soldiers draped in their national flag, chanting: “Russia, Russia, Russia!”
