Russia, Ukraine swap more than 300 POWs in deal mediated by UAE

While Russian Defence Ministry says 150 prisoners were swapped in a New Year deal, Zelenskyy welcomes 189 Ukrainians home.

Russia and Ukraine have swapped more than 300 prisoners of war (POWs) in an exchange brokered by the United Arab Emirates in advance of New Year’s Eve, officials from both countries said.

The Russian Ministry of Defence on Monday said it swapped 150 Ukrainian prisoners, while Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenksyy said 189 Ukrainians had returned home.

There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy in the numbers reported.

“The return of our people from Russian captivity is always very good news for each of us. And today is one of such days: our team managed to bring 189 Ukrainians home,” Zelenskyy posted on the Telegram messaging app.

He said the swap included two civilians captured in the southern port city of Mariupol in 2022 as he thanked the UAE for helping negotiate the exchange.

Pictures released by Zelenskyy showed dozens of men sitting in a bus, some of them wrapped in Ukraine’s national blue and yellow flags.

A video published by Russia’s human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova showed soldiers gathered outside buses, wearing winter clothes and military fatigues.

“I thank you for your service, patience and courage,” Moskalkova said, wishing them a happy New Year’s holiday.

“Very soon our guys will embrace their relatives and friends and celebrate the New Year in their native land,” she wrote in a Telegram message accompanying the video.

The Russian Defence Ministry said the freed POWs were provided both psychological and medical assistance in neighbouring Belarus, a key Moscow ally, before heading for home.

There have been 60 different prisoner exchanges since the war began in February 2022. The last exchange took place in mid-October when the two countries swapped 95 POWs each.

Ukraine said on Monday that Moscow had released a total of 3,956 people – soldiers and civilians – in deals with Kyiv since the start of the conflict. Zelenskyy promised to continue pushing for the remaining POWs to be freed.

“We continue working to free every single person from Russian captivity. This is our goal, and we will not forget anyone. I thank the team that is doing everything to bring our people home,” he wrote.

The prisoner exchange came as US President Joe Biden announced Monday that the United States will send nearly $2.5bn more in weapons to Ukraine as his administration works quickly to spend all the money it has available to help Kyiv fight off Russia before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.