War in Ukraine: 76 new Ukrainian prisoners freed following an exchange with Russia

Announcements of the release of Ukrainian prisoners have become a habit since April.

Seventy-six Ukrainians have been freed in a new prisoner swap with Russia, kyiv announced on Tuesday, without revealing the number of Russians who have been handed over to Moscow.

“We exchanged 60 soldiers, including 10 officers.

Sixteen civilians also returned home,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Telegram.

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According to her, this is the fifth exchange of prisoners since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

A previous exchange took place on Friday April 15 after “tense” negotiations in the Kherson region, in southern Ukraine, partially under Russian control, according to kyiv, which did not specify the details.

The day before, 30 Ukrainians had been released in another exchange and 26 had already been released earlier in the month.

Finally on April 1, the Ukrainian presidency announced that it had exchanged 86 of its soldiers for Russians.

On Monday, the Ukrainian security services also published the video of MP and businessman Viktor Medvedchuk, close to President Vladimir Putin and currently detained, asking to be exchanged for soldiers and civilians in the besieged city of Mariupol.

On the Russian side, public television broadcast the same day calls from two prisoners, identified as the British Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin, claiming to have been captured during the fighting in Ukraine and asking Prime Minister Boris Johnson to negotiate their release in exchange for Viktor Medvedchuk.