207 Ukrainians and 195 Russians return home in latest prisoner swap

Europe, News February 1, 2024 , by IRIA No Comments

Russia and Ukraine have conducted a prisoner exchange where Moscow said it received 195 prisoners while Kyiv claimed to brought home 207 of its prisoners of war. The prisoner swap deal marks the first such exchange since the recent incident involving a Russian military transport plane.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, both parties have received 195 soldiers each in the exchange, however, Ukraine claims that it received 207 prisoners. Russian soldiers were transported to Moscow for medical and psychological treatment.

“On January 31, as a result of the negotiation process, 195 Russian servicemen who were in mortal danger in captivity were returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime. In return, exactly 195 prisoners from the armed forces of Ukraine were handed over,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that Ukraine received 207 prisoners in exchange for 195 Russian prisoners of war. In a short video address, Zelenskyy said that the group of released prisoners consisted of 180 privates and sergeants as well as 27 officers from the Armed Forces, National Guard, Border Guard, and National Police.

“We remember each Ukrainian in captivity,” Zelenskyy said. “Both warriors and civilians. We must bring all of them back”, he added.

According to Ukrainian officials, this was the 50th prisoner of war (POW) exchange deal between Russia and Ukraine. So far, 3,035 Ukrainians have been returned from captivity through such exchange deals.

*^{Ukrainian soldiers return home from Russian captivity on January 31, 2024. (Image Credit: Presidential Office of Ukraine)}*

Despite the lack of peace talks between them since the initial months of the conflict, the two warring states have engaged in occasional prisoner exchanges facilitated by intermediaries. In one of the largest prisoner exchange deals mediated by the UAE on January 3, 2024, a total of 478 captives were exchanged from both sides.

The prospects of a prisoner swap deal between the two warring states became thin after Moscow claimed that one of its planes carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners, six Russian crew members, and three Russian military officials, was shot down by the Ukrainian forces on January 24, 2024. The Russian military’s Ilyushin-76 plane crashed in the Belgorod border region last week.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a U.S.-made Patriot missile was used to shoot down the military cargo plane. “The plane was shot down, it has already been established for certain, by an American Patriot system,” Putin said in a televised appearance.

Ukraine has denied shooting down the Russian plane and instead accused Russia of “playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners” over the crash of a military transport plane.

Crash site of the Russian military transport plane Il-76 — ^{Experts investigate the crash site of the Russian military transport plane Il-76 that crashed in a border region near Ukraine on January 24, 2024. Moscow accused Kyiv of shooting it down. (Image Credit: RIA Novosti)}

Soon after, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy called for an international investigation into the plane crash which resulted in the death of 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war. Ukrainian officials confirmed that the prisoner swap deal was due to happen on the same day as the plane crash but it was called off at the last minute.