Russia and Ukraine have exchanged 115 prisoners of war from each side after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) acted as an intermediary.
It is the first such exchange since Ukraine launched a surprise attack into Russia’s Kursk region on 6 August, the biggest inside Russian territory by a foreign power since the second world war.
It came as Ukraine marked 33 years of independence on Saturday, the anniversary of the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, when Kyiv resolved to leave the Moscow-based Soviet Union.
According to the Russian defence ministry, the Russian servicemen swapped were captured in the Kursk region.
All released Russian soldiers are now in Belarus and will receive medical treatment and rehabilitation upon their return to Russia. The ministry expressed gratitude for the UAE’s role in facilitating the prisoner swap.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, posted a picture with Ukrainian prisoners wrapped in the country’s blue and yellow flags and hugging each other. He said the returned were servicemen from the border guards, the national guard, navy and the armed forces.
Zelenskiy expressed gratitude to the Ukrainian troops who helped replenish the pool of prisoners for exchange.
Kyiv said it has carved out a buffer zone in an area that Russia, which sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, has used to attack targets in Ukraine.
According to Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s commissioner for human rights, 82 of the returned Ukrainians defended the port of Mariupol in 2022.
Confirming its role in facilitating the exchange, the UAE foreign ministry said that the total number of captives exchanged through its mediation efforts now stood at 1,788.
It is the seventh such exchange the UAE has mediated since Russia invaded Ukraine. An Emirati official earlier said that Russia and Ukraine were to swap prisoners following mediation by the Gulf state.
Abu Dhabi, a close security partner of the US, has maintained warm relations with Moscow throughout the war, frustrating some western officials. It has also strengthened ties with Kyiv.
UAE officials say their ability to talk to a range of international actors means that they can in effect mediate between parties and promote cooperation and security.
On Saturday, Zelenskiy signed a law ratifying the Rome Statute, allowing Ukraine to join the International criminal court. The law published on the parliament’s website is also key to Ukraine’s efforts to move closer to the European Union.