Ukraine brings home 189 prisoners of war in swop with Russia
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Pictures released by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky showed returning soldiers wrapped in the blue and yellow flag of Ukraine.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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KYIV – Ukraine and Russia carried out a new exchange of prisoners of war on Dec 30, with Kyiv bringing home 189 former captives, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Mr Zelensky thanked the United Arab Emirates and other partners for facilitating the swop.
“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,” Mr Zelensky said on the Telegram messaging app.
The Russian Defence Ministry earlier on Dec 30 reported the prisoner swop, saying each side had freed 150 prisoners of war.
There was no immediate explanation of the discrepancy in the numbers reported.
Mr Zelensky said the returning Ukrainians included soldiers, sergeants and officers from different front-line areas and also two civilians who had been captured in the southern port of Mariupol taken by the Russian troops in 2022.
Pictures released by Mr Zelensky showed dozens of men sitting in a bus, some of them wrapped in Ukraine’s national blue and yellow flag. REUTERS
