UAE Mediates Exchange of 206 Prisoners Between Russia and Ukraine

New Delhi: A total of 206 people were freed from both sides in a landmark extradition deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Ukraine. This will be the UAE’s eighth arbitration since the start of 2024.

According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 82 soldiers, privates, and 21 officers made up the 103 returning Ukrainians from the armed forces.

103 Russian servicemen who had been swapped during an unexpected Ukrainian military invasion in the Kursk border area in August, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, had been apprehended.

“Our people are at home,” Zelensky said on the Telegram messaging app. “We have successfully brought 103 more soldiers from Russian captivity to Ukraine.”

Zelensky also posted pictures of them, draped in the national blue and yellow flag, hugging each other, talking on mobile phones and posing for group photos.

According to Emirati state news agency WAM, the exchange was mediated by the United Arab Emirates.

After Russia’s February 2022 invasion, Kiev and Moscow routinely exchanged prisoners. Saturday’s exchange was the third such exchange since Ukraine began cross-border incursions into Russia’s Kursk region in early August.

According to Ukrainian officials, its troops captured at least 600 Russian soldiers during the incursion, which will help return captured Ukrainians.

Ukraine’s Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said most of the freed Ukrainians had been in Russian captivity since the early days of the invasion. He said Kiev has so far repatriated 3,672 Ukrainians in 57 exchanges. He posted a short video on the Telegram messaging app, which shows him standing in front of a bus and shouting “Glory to Ukraine”.