Ukraine and Russia swapped 115 prisoners of war from each side on Saturday in a deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates, the first exchange since Kyiv launched an offensive in the Kursk region earlier this month.
Some 82 Ukrainian soldiers who served in the defense of Mariupol were among those sent back home, while the Russian detainees were captured in the Kursk region during the ongoing cross-border offensive by Kyiv’s forces, according to reports.
“Another 115 of our defenders have returned home today,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X. “These are warriors of the National Guard, the Armed Forces, the Navy, and the State Border Guard Service.”
The UAE confirmed on Saturday that it had helped broker the swap deal, with the Foreign Ministry adding it comes a month after an earlier round of captive swapping between the two sides.