This is one of the largest exchanges of prisoners since the start of the war.
Russia and Ukraine announced on Wednesday that they had exchanged around 200 prisoners of war from each side, a week after the crash of a Russian military plane that Moscow said was carrying captive Ukrainian soldiers was shot down. through Kiev.
What happened ?
The Russian Defense Ministry said that “195 Russian soldiers” had been exchanged for the same number of Ukrainian servicemen.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, for his part, welcomed the return of “207” of his fellow citizens who were detained by the Russians.
“Ours are at home,” he wrote on social media, promising to bring home all prisoners, “combatants or civilians.”
Our people are back.
207 of them.
We return them home no matter what.
We remember each Ukrainian in captivity.
Both warriors and civilians.
We must bring all of them back.
We are working on it.
The Ukrainian team has done another excellent job.
Budanov, Yermak, Usov, Maliuk,… pic.twitter.com/ZNNdTz3mKO
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 31, 2024
The released soldiers “will have a hot dinner, receive clean clothes, a medical examination, restoration of their documents, bank cards and rehabilitation,” said Ukrainian human rights commissioner Dmytro
Lubinets on Telegram.
This is one of the largest exchanges of Ukrainian prisoners since the start of the war in February 2022.
What do we know about the crash of the plane carrying prisoners, according to Moscow?
Last week, a Russian military plane crashed near the Ukrainian border in murky circumstances, killing all on board.
Moscow assures that kyiv shot down the plane carrying 74 people, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war who were going to be exchanged.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that the plane was shot down with “an American Patriot system.”
Video.
War in Ukraine: Russian military plane crashes with 65 Ukrainian prisoners on board
Ukraine for its part neither confirmed nor denied its involvement, but expressed doubts about the presence of its soldiers on board.
The country, however, confirmed that an exchange of prisoners was planned on the day of the crash, and ultimately did not take place.
Russia has shown no desire to return the bodies of Ukrainian prisoners it claims died in the crash to support its accusations, a Ukrainian military intelligence official said Tuesday.
The Russian Investigative Committee, in charge of the investigations, has so far only published images showing a snow-covered field with some debris, and one or two blurred bodies.
How many prisoner exchanges have already taken place?
This is the fiftieth exchange of this type, said Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets.
According to him, a total of 3,035 Ukrainians have already been able to return home.
The largest exchange of Ukrainian prisoners took place earlier this month, with the return of 230 soldiers on January 3.
How many Ukrainian prisoners are still in Russia?
More than 8,000 Ukrainians, including more than 1,600 civilians, are detained by the Russians, according to kyiv.