Russia and Ukraine release more than 170 soldiers in a prisoner swap

Europe, News February 5, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

Dozens of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers were released from both sides during a prisoner-of-war swap deal on February 4, 2023. According to official sources, 63 Russian and 116 Ukrainian soldiers were released.

Russia’s defense ministry released a statement that the prisoner swap deal came as a result of the negotiations between the two warring states that were brokered by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The prisoner swap and the release of servicemen come at the same time as fighting rages in the eastern city of Bakhmut.

The UAE remains one of the key negotiators between Moscow and Kyiv due to its open channels of communication with Russia. Last October, UAE’s President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in St. Petersburg where the Russian leader described relations between the two countries as “an important factor of stability”.

The Ukrainian president’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak also announced that 116 Ukrainian soldiers were returned. Yermak said the released soldiers include troops who held out in Mariupol during Moscow’s months-long siege that reduced the southern port city to ruins, as well as guerilla fighters from the Kherson region and snipers captured during the ongoing fierce battles for the eastern city of Bakhmut.

Ukrainian officials further said that 87 of the freed soldiers were from the Ukrainian regular armed forces. Eight servicemen were from military intelligence while others belonged to the navy and the national guards. At least 23 of the released were injured or sick and some have lost limbs due to frostbite.

Yermak also announced that the bodies of two British nationals, who were killed in the evacuation of Ukrainian people during the war, have also been recovered in a prisoner swap. Yermak named them as two “British men” and said, “We managed to return the bodies of the dead foreign volunteers.”

Russia’s ministry of defense said in a statement, “A complicated negotiations process resulted in 63 Russian servicemen returned from the Ukrainian territory.”

^{A still image from a video released on February 4, 2023, by Russia’s Defense Ministry shows who it said are Russian service personnel in a bus after an exchange of prisoners of war at an unknown location. (Image Credit: Russian Defense Ministry/via Reuters)}

Without specifying the details of released prisoners, the statement added that people of a “sensitive category” were also included in the deal. Experts say that the sensitive category could be a reference to a wide range of servicemen, including spies and civilians holding sensitive information.

According to Ukrainian officials, since the war started last February, Ukraine had secured the release of 1,762 men and women from Russian captivity.

In a separate event, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revoked the citizenship of several former influential Ukrainian politicians in the latest step to “cleanse” the country of pro-Russian influences.

Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address, “Today, I signed the relevant documents to take another step to protect and cleanse our state from those on the side of the aggressor”. He added that he would not list the names but said all the stripped Ukrainian citizens held dual Russian citizenship.