Russia and Ukraine have exchanged a whole bunch of prisoners of conflict within the largest single launch of captives because the battle started in February 2022.
Ukrainian authorities mentioned 230 Ukrainian prisoners of conflict returned residence within the first trade in nearly 5 months on Wednesday.
Russia’s defence ministry mentioned 248 Russian servicemen have been freed on the identical day underneath the deal sponsored by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has thanked the “warriors on the frontline who take the occupiers prisoner and replenish our exchange fund”.
He added: “The more Russians we take prisoner, the more effective negotiations on exchanges will be.”
The UAE’s international ministry attributed the swap on Wednesday to the “strong friendly relations between the UAE and both the Russian Federation and the Republic of Ukraine, which were supported by sustained calls at the highest levels”.
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The UAE has maintained shut financial ties with Moscow regardless of Western sanctions and stress on Russia after it launched its invasion.
Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, mentioned it was the forty ninth prisoner trade through the conflict.
Some of the Ukrainians had been held since 2022. Among them had been a few of those that fought in milestone battles for Ukraine’s Snake Island and the town of Mariupol.
Russian officers provided no different particulars of the trade.
The Russian navy in the meantime mentioned it had shot down 12 Ukrainian missiles over Russia’s southern Belgorod area bordering Ukraine.
Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov mentioned the scenario within the regional capital, additionally known as Belgorod, “remains tense”.
The metropolis got here underneath two rounds of shelling on Wednesday, he wrote on Telegram.
“Air defence systems worked,” he mentioned, promising extra particulars about doable injury after inspecting the world later within the day.
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Belgorod, which has a inhabitants of round 340,000 individuals, is the most important Russian metropolis near the Ukrainian border. It might be reached by comparatively easy and movable weapons corresponding to a number of rocket launchers.
On Saturday, shelling in Belgorod killed greater than two dozen individuals.
The assault was one of many deadliest on Russian soil since Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
On Monday, Mr Putin lashed out on the Belgorod assaults.
“They want to intimidate us and create uncertainty within our country,” he mentioned, promising to step up retaliatory strikes.
Ukrainian officers by no means acknowledge accountability for strikes on Russian territory.
Source: information.sky.com”