- Russia and Ukraine carried out the largest prisoner exchange of the war, officials said on Wednesday.
- Ukraine got back 230 soldiers and civilians, while Moscow received 248 troops in return.
Kyiv announced Wednesday the largest prisoner exchange since the full-scale war began nearly two years ago. In the swap, Russia released 230 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, and Moscow said it received 248 troops in return.
The surprise deal, which was brokered by the United Arab Emirates, is the first exchange in months and followed a series of recent Russian barrages against Ukraine that left dozens dead and hundreds injured. The missile and drone attacks have led officials in Kyiv to slam Moscow as a "terrorist regime."
Ukraine's military intelligence agency said on Wednesday that the exchange marked "the largest in terms of the number of returned defenders."
The 230 men and women who were released from Russian captivity include 130 soldiers in the regular military, 55 national guard troops, 38 members of the country's State Border Guard Service, one national police officer, and six civilians who were "illegally deprived of their liberty," the agency said.
A majority of these individuals maintained the official status of a prisoner of war, while some were not thought to be in captivity and were considered missing, the Ukrainian Main Directorate of Intelligence, an arm of the country's defense ministry that is also known as the HUR, said in a Telegram statement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the exchange as "long-awaited good news."
"We remember all Ukrainians held in Russian captivity," he said in a statement addressing the nation.
"There was a long pause in the exchanges, but there was no pause in the negotiations regarding the exchanges. We seize every opportunity, try all mediation options. At every international meeting that can help the cause, we raise the issue of returning our captives. And we will continue this work to return our people… All our people," he said.
Zelenskyy noted that some of the Ukrainians who were released had defended Mariupol and the Azovstal steel plant, which is where Kyiv's forces made their last stand in May 2022 after Moscow laid a devastating siege to the southern port city. This means those soldiers spent at least 20 months in Russian captivity before they were exchanged this week.
The HUR also said Russia released national guardsmen who were captured while defending Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which fell into Moscow's hands in the early weeks of the war, indicating that these individuals may have been in captivity for nearly two years.
Russia's defense ministry, meanwhile, said it received 248 soldiers from Ukraine as "a result of difficult negotiations," although it thanked the UAE for its mediation. The freed Russians are being given medical and psychological assistance and will undergo treatment and rehabilitation, Moscow said in a Telegram statement.
"I thank each of our warriors on the front line who take the occupiers prisoner and replenish our exchange fund," Zelenskyy said. "The more Russians we take prisoner, the more effective the negotiations on exchanges will be."
While it's unclear what sort of conditions the newly released Ukrainians faced in Russian prisons, one soldier who spent more than a year in captivity until he was released last summer told Business Insider that he witnessed brutal emotional and physical abuse and endured horrific treatment.