Both sides thanked the United Arab Emirates for mediating the deal.

Ukraine said 230 prisoners, including serving members of the armed forces and border guard, had been freed from Russian captivity.

In exchange, 248 Russians were released by Ukraine in the deal, mediated by the United Arab Emirates.

“Our people are home,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social media. “Today, we brought back over 200 warriors and civilians from Russian captivity.”

Ukraine said their freed soldiers included seven defenders of Snake Island, a rocky outcrop in the Black Sea.

Others released included National Guardsmen captured at the Chernobyl exclusion zone and soldiers detained during the battle for the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. Six of those released were civilians, according to Kyiv.

  • muntedcrocodile@lemmy.world
    6·
    6 months ago

    Dont kid urself they wont be going to prison once they get back to russia. If they are lucky they will get a lovely little box they might even get to shair it with thier comrades.