In the most recent of several sporadic exchanges in their 28-month-old conflict, Russia and Ukraine each returned 90 prisoners of war on Tuesday. The United Arab Emirates served as an intermediary and oversaw the exchange.
The UAE served as a go-between during the final exchange, which took place on May 31 and involved the transfer of approximately 75 prisoners of war from each side. It had been over four months since the last conversation.
Russia said that the detainees returned home on Tuesday had been in grave danger while in custody.
According to Ukraine, among those who returned were soldiers who had guarded the steel mill in Azovstal during a three-month siege in 2022 and others who had been taken prisoner when Russian forces briefly took control of the abandoned nuclear power plant Chornobyl.
The UAE claimed that having positive relationships with both parties had made its role as a go-between conceivable.
“90 Russian prisoners of war who risked death in captivity are being returned from areas under Kyiv’s control,” the Russian Defense Ministry stated in a post on the messaging app Telegram.
It stated that the detainees from Russia were allowed to go home.
“With the United Arab Emirates acting in a humanitarian capacity as an intermediary.”
According to the ministry, the released Russian inmates were being flown to Moscow for medical examinations.
The majority of the liberated military members, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, were sergeants and privates, and the exchange was only one more step toward sending all of the captives home.
He declared, “We will return all others in the same way,” during his daily video speech. “We want to know the truth about everyone, including their whereabouts, state of health, and what will be required to get them back.”
He expressed gratitude to the UAE for making the swap possible and promised to keep working to free others who are still detained.
Dmytro Lubinets, the parliamentary commissioner for human rights for Ukraine, stated that people coming out of captivity would have health examinations and assistance getting back on their feet.
Men were shown in a video on the president’s Telegram channel getting off a bus, being greeted, and receiving blue and yellow flags to throw over their shoulders.
As per the official news agency WAM, the UAE Foreign Ministry stated in a statement that mediation worked well because it made use of “its distinct ties and partnership with both sides, including as a reliable mediator among both parties.”
The UAE has remained impartial in its statements regarding the crisis and has persisted in facilitating a prisoner exchange between the two parties since the beginning of Russia’s war in Ukraine.