Russia and Ukraine announce they have exchanged around 200 prisoners of war. An operation which took place a week after the crash of a Russian military plane.
Kyiv and Moscow announced that they had exchanged nearly 200 prisoners of war from each camp on Wednesday. It was one of the largest prisoner exchanges in two years of war.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that “195 Russian soldiers” had been exchanged for the same number of Ukrainian soldiers. The Ukrainian president welcomed the return of “207” of his fellow citizens, and promised at the same time to bring home all the captives, “combatants or civilians”.
Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, said on social media that it was the 50th such exchange, with 3,035 prisoners of war repatriated since the start of the war.
An operation which took place without a hitch, a week after the crash of a Russian military plane which killed all its occupants. According to Russia, the plane, which was carrying 74 people including 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war who were going to be exchanged, was shot down by Ukraine. For their part, Kyiv and its Western allies are still trying to obtain proof of Russian allegations.
More than 8,000 Ukrainians, including more than 1,600 civilians, are still detained by the Russians, according to Kyiv.
