Russia and Ukraine swap 190 POWs in major exchange
- In Reports
- 12:08 PM, Oct 19, 2024
- Myind Staff
In a significant move on Friday, Russia announced that it had exchanged 95 Ukrainian soldiers for the same number of Russian troops in a deal arranged by the United Arab Emirates.
The Russian Defence Ministry shared inputs about the move. "As a result of the negotiation process, 95 Russian servicemen were returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime," it said. "In return, 95 Ukrainian army prisoners of war were handed over," the defence ministry added.
The human rights centre Zmina said that Maksym Butkevych, a well-known Ukrainian rights campaigner was released in the swap, citing his father. However, Kyiv has not verified the exchange. Butkevych, a Ukrainian serviceman and co-founder of the independent Hromadske radio station, was serving a 13-year sentence for allegedly hurting two civilians in the eastern city of Severodonetsk while using an anti-tank grenade launcher.
A court in Lugansk, in Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine found him guilty of war crimes in March 2023 after he enlisted in the Ukrainian army in March 2022 and was arrested in June. Since the start of Moscow's offensive in 2022, Russia and Ukraine have exchanged hundreds of prisoners despite continuing hostilities, frequently through agreements mediated by Saudi Arabia, Turkey, or the United Arab Emirates.
The last recorded swap took place in September when 206 prisoners of war were exchanged in a transaction also conducted by the United Arab Emirates. Following repatriation procedures, Kyiv announced on Friday that it had received the bodies of 501 troops who had been killed while battling Russian forces, primarily in eastern Ukraine.
Russia received 89 of its soldiers' bodies in exchange, Russian legislator Shamsail Saraliyev informed the RBK media site.
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