By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Russia and Ukraine on Saturday exchanged over 100 prisoners of war as Kyiv marked its third Independence Day since Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
Ukraine said the 115 servicemen who were freed were those conscripted, many of whom were taken prisoner in the first months of Russia’s invasion.
Among them are nearly 50 soldiers captured by Russian forces from the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.
The Russian Defence Ministry said the 115 Russian soldiers had been captured in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces launched their surprise offensive into Russia two weeks ago.
The ministry said the soldiers were currently in Belarus but would be taken to Russia for medical treatment and rehabilitation.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X that the United Arab Emirates had again brokered the exchange, the 55th since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.
“We remember each and every one. We are searching and doing our best to get everyone back,” Zelenskyy said in the post.
Officials from the two countries meet only when they swap their dead and prisoners of war, after lengthy preparation and diplomacy.
Neither Ukraine nor Russia discloses how many POWs there are in total.
According to the UN, most Ukrainian POWs suffer routine medical neglect, severe and systematic mistreatment, and even torture while in detention.
There have also been isolated reports of abuse of Russian soldiers, mostly during capture or transit to internment sites.
Last January, Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war in the biggest single release.
