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On Saturday, Russia announced that it exchanged 103 Ukrainian soldiers who were held captive for the same number of Russian prisoners of war in a deal facilitated by the United Arab Emirates.
The soldiers released in the exchange on Saturday were taken prisoner during Ukraine’s advance into the Kursk region, which commenced on August 6, as stated by the Russian defense ministry.
“As a result of the negotiation process, 103 Russian servicemen captured in the Kursk region were returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime,” the Russian defence ministry said.
“In return, 103 Ukrainian army prisoners of war were handed over.”
“At present, all Russian servicemen are on the territory of the Republic of Belarus, where they are being provided with the necessary psychological and medical assistance, as well as an opportunity to contact their relatives,” the ministry added.
President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed Ukraine brought home 103 servicemen from Russian captivity.
“Our people are home. We have successfully brought back another 103 warriors from Russian captivity to Ukraine,” Zelensky wrote on social media platform X.
“I thank our exchange team for delivering such good news for Ukraine,” he added.
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Despite ongoing hostilities, Russia and Ukraine have managed to swap hundreds of prisoners throughout the two-and-half-year conflict, often in deals brokered by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia or Turkey.
The announcement came just three weeks after Russia and Ukraine swapped 115 prisoners of war each in an exchange deal also mediated by the UAE.
The UAE’s foreign ministry hailed the deal as a “success” and thanked both sides for their cooperation on Saturday.
The prisoner swap came as Russia on Saturday pushed ahead in eastern Ukraine, where it claims to have captured a string of villages in recent weeks.
The Russian defence ministry said in a daily briefing it had “liberated” the village of Zhelanne Pershe, less than 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the key Ukrainian-held logistics hub of Pokrovsk.
Pokrovsk lies on the intersection of a key road that supplies Ukrainian troops and towns across the eastern front and has long been a target for Moscow’s army.
More than half of the city’s 60,000 residents have fled since the invasion began in February 2022, with evacuations ramping up in recent weeks as Moscow’s army closes in.
