More than 200 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have returned home in a prisoner swap, the warring countries said yesterday [Macau time].
Russia’s Defense Ministry said 106 Russian soldiers were released from Ukrainian custody as part of an agreement with Ukraine.
Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, said that Russia freed 100 Ukrainian prisoners.
Neither announcement mentioned whether any intermediaries were involved in the agreement.
Some of the Ukrainian soldiers have severe injuries and illnesses, Yermak said in a statement published on Telegram.
He added that the latest of the sporadic prisoner swaps in the war that started in February 2022 was “not an easy one.” He did not elaborate.
Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War alleged that almost half of the 80 men and 20 women soldiers who returned home “have serious injuries, illnesses or have been tortured.” It presented no evidence for its claims.
According to Ukrainian news reports, one of the women prisoners is Valeriia Karpilenko, a border guard who had helped defend Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant.
