Key Points
- Ukraine brought home 189 former captives while 150 Russian servicemen returned home in a new prisoner swap.
- The United Arab Emirates brokered the exchange.
- The swap brought to 3,956 the number of Ukrainian detainees brought home.
Ukraine and Russia have carried out a new exchange of prisoners of war, with the two sides bringing home a combined total of more than 300 former captives.
Ukraine brought home 189 former captives, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russia's defence ministry said, while the Russian ministry said 150 Russian servicemen were returning home.
The Russian ministry said the captives had been released in Belarus, it's close ally in the 34-month-old war with Ukraine, and would be transferred to Russia.
Television footage showed waiting spouses and some servicemen, many wrapped in blue and yellow national flags, weeping openly as they were reunited well after dark outside a building.
A Ukrainian prisoner of war embraces his wife after the exchange. Source: AFP / Telegram / @Volodymyr Zelenskyy
"My son is five years old now; the last time I saw him, he was two years old," said Serhii, who was captured by Russian forces at the Azovstal steel mill in the southern port Mariupol, which withstood a siege for nearly three months in 2022.
"That's why my son probably didn't recognise me. I used to have a beard and hair. I lost 20kg."
For some former captives, the return to freedom involved adjustment.
"Even now I'm holding my hands behind my back, it has become a habit of mine," said Roman Borshch, 29. "Now I have to get used to being a free person again."
Video shared by the Russian defence ministry showed smiling servicemen on a bus, some calling their families.
"We'll soon be home. How are the children? How is our boy?" said one man.
"I am overwhelmed by emotion," said another. "I still can't quite believe that this has happened, that I am back home, that the ministry made such efforts, that we are remembered and valued."
Zelenskyy thanked United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities and other partners for facilitating the swap. The UAE acknowledged it helped arrange the exchange.
"The return of our people from Russian captivity is always very good news for each of us. And today is one of such days: our team managed to bring 189 Ukrainians home," Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
There was no immediate explanation for why more Ukrainians than Russians were listed as released; the freed Ukrainians included civilians who had been in Russian captivity.
Zelenskyy said the returning Ukrainians included soldiers, sergeants and officers from frontline areas and two civilians who had been captured in Mariupol.
said it was the 59th exchange between the two sides since Russia's February 2022 invasion of its smaller neighbour. The swap brought to 3,956 the number of .
In the last swap in October, also carried out with assistance from the UAE, Russia and Ukraine each brought home 95 detainees.
