Russia, Ukraine exchange 100 prisoners of war in second swap this week

Europe, News November 25, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

Russia and Ukraine exchanged about 50 prisoners of war from each side on November 24, in the second swap this week, according to Moscow and Kyiv sources.

Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, said that the latest swap includes 20 National Guardsmen, 12 Marines, 10 Army soldiers, six Border Guards, and two fighters.

Yermak added that 19 of the returned soldiers were among those who were captured after a weekslong siege by Russian forces of the Azovstal metalworks, 15 were taken prisoner at the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and seven had been captured at Snake Island.

Both sides released an equal number of prisoners as Russia’s defense ministry confirmed that Ukraine had released 50 captured Russian soldiers, while the Ukrainian side claimed that Ukraine received 48 soldiers and two officers, including marines, infantrymen, border guards, and members of the territorial defense.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, “On November 24, 50 Russian servicemen who faced a fatal danger in captivity have been returned from the territory controlled by the Kiev regime as a result of the negotiating process. All the released servicemen are receiving required medical and psychological assistance.”

The Russian ministry statement added that “Military transport planes of the Russian Aerospace Forces will deliver all the released servicemen to Moscow for medical treatment and recovery at the Defense Ministry’s medical institutions.”

The latest prisoner exchange comes a day after another swap in which 35 military personnel and one civilian were returned to Ukraine and 35 soldiers were repatriated to Russia.

^{The November 24 exchange comes one day after another swap of prisoners in which 36 individuals — 35 military and one civilian — were returned to Ukraine and 35 Russian soldiers were repatriated. (Image Credit: RFERL)}

Media sources claimed that Russian and Ukrainian officials have met in the United Arab Emirates last week to discuss the possibility of a prisoner swap between both sides and which was linked to a resumption of Russian ammonia exports to Asia and Africa via a Ukrainian pipeline.

Earlier in September this year, Ukraine and Russia conducted a significant prisoner swap in which nearly 215 fighters and civilians were returned to Ukraine in exchange for freeing 55 Russian soldiers and Putin’s key ally Viktor Medvedchuk.

The previous prisoner swap also included prisoners of war from other countries including two citizens of the United States, five from the United Kingdom, and one each from Morocco, Sweden, and Croatia. Some of them had been sentenced to death after being captured in Ukraine and accused of being mercenaries. The September prison swap deal was hammered out with the help of Saudi Arabia and Turkey and involved intense haggling.