Whereas Russian Defence Ministry says 150 prisoners have been swapped in a New Yr deal, Zelenskyy welcomes 189 Ukrainians residence.
Russia and Ukraine have swapped greater than 300 prisoners of struggle (POWs) in an trade brokered by the United Arab Emirates prematurely of New Yr’s Eve, officers from each nations mentioned.
The Russian Ministry of Defence on Monday mentioned it swapped 150 Ukrainian prisoners, whereas Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenksyy mentioned 189 Ukrainians had returned residence.
There was no rapid rationalization for the discrepancy within the numbers reported.
“The return of our folks from Russian captivity is at all times excellent information for every of us. And in the present day is certainly one of such days: our workforce managed to deliver 189 Ukrainians residence,” Zelenskyy posted on the Telegram messaging app.
He mentioned the swap included two civilians captured within the southern port metropolis of Mariupol in 2022 as he thanked the UAE for serving to negotiate the trade.
Photos launched by Zelenskyy confirmed dozens of males sitting in a bus, a few of them wrapped in Ukraine’s nationwide blue and yellow flags.
A video printed by Russia’s human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova confirmed troopers gathered outdoors buses, sporting winter garments and navy fatigues.
“I thanks in your service, endurance and braveness,” Moskalkova mentioned, wishing them a cheerful New Yr’s vacation.
“Very quickly our guys will embrace their family members and associates and have a good time the New Yr of their place of birth,” she wrote in a Telegram message accompanying the video.
The Russian Defence Ministry mentioned the freed POWs have been offered each psychological and medical help in neighbouring Belarus, a key Moscow ally, earlier than heading for residence.
There have been 60 completely different prisoner exchanges for the reason that struggle started in February 2022. The final trade occurred in mid-October when the 2 nations swapped 95 POWs every.
Ukraine mentioned on Monday that Moscow had launched a complete of three,956 folks – troopers and civilians – in offers with Kyiv for the reason that begin of the conflict. Zelenskyy promised to proceed pushing for the remaining POWs to be freed.
“We proceed working to free each single particular person from Russian captivity. That is our objective, and we won’t overlook anybody. I thank the workforce that’s doing every little thing to deliver our folks residence,” he wrote.
The prisoner trade got here as US President Joe Biden introduced Monday that america will ship almost $2.5bn extra in weapons to Ukraine as his administration works shortly to spend all the cash it has accessible to assist Kyiv combat off Russia earlier than President-elect Donald Trump takes workplace.
