An exchange of 116 Ukrainian prisoners and 63 Russians between Moscow and kyiv was concluded.
This exchange was announced with pride by the Ukrainian presidency, which shared photos and videos of the return of its liberated soldiers: "
These are the defenders of Mariupol, the resistance fighters of Kherson, the snipers from around Bakhmout and still others of our heroes
," said one of Zelensky's aides.
This is the second time since the beginning of the year that such an operation has taken place between kyiv and Moscow.
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The bodies of two Britons, Christopher Parry and Andrew Bagshaw, killed in Ukraine where they had gone as volunteers, were also recovered as part of this prisoner exchange between kyiv and Moscow, the Ukrainian authorities said.
Read alsoTwo Britons killed in Ukraine during a “humanitarian evacuation” from Soledar
“
We managed to recover the bodies of dead foreign volunteers
,” said Andriï Yermak, the head of the administration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Aged 28 and 48, they were killed while attempting a humanitarian evacuation from the town of Soledar, the scene of intense clashes in early January and largely destroyed in bombardments, the family of Christopher Parry confirmed at the end of January. through the UK Foreign Office.
They had been missing for several weeks, and the leader of the Wagner group, Evguéni Prigojine, had indicated on January 11 that his fighters had found the body of one of them in Soledar.
The Ukrainian army admitted on January 25 that it had surrendered to Russian forces Soledar, located not far from Bakhmout in the east of the country, which has become the epicenter of the fighting almost a year after the start of the invasion of the country.
The Russians had claimed its capture for two weeks.
Contacted, the British Foreign Office was unable to react immediately.
