(Bloomberg) — Russia said it has exchanged 95 Ukrainian soldiers for an equal number of troops in the first major prisoner of war return in more than a month.
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Ukrainian officials did not immediately confirm that the deal had taken place.
The exchange was mediated by the United Arab Emirates, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Friday.
Kiev and Moscow have carried out dozens of prisoner exchanges since the start of the Russian invasion, now well into its third year. The latest swap is in addition to more than 3,600 captured soldiers returned to Ukraine during the course of the war, Kyiv’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said.
Friday’s swap followed a major prisoner of war exchange mediated by the UAE on September 14 and 15. According to Dmytro Lubinets, the human rights commissioner of the Ukrainian parliament, 152 Ukrainian men and women returned home.
Ukraine has not released exact numbers of its citizens held in Russia. According to Interfax Ukraine, Kiev reported in January that about 8,000 Ukrainians were prisoners of war, including more than 1,600 civilians. In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that 6,465 Ukrainian soldiers were being held by Russia and 1,348 Russian soldiers were being held by Ukraine. These claims could not be independently verified.
–With help from Daryna Krasnolutska.
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