Moscow and Kyiv have carried out one of the biggest exchanges of prisoners of war since the start of the full-scale war in 2022, swapping hundreds of captives before the new year.
The swap, which was partially brokered by the United Arab Emirates, has seen 189 Ukrainian captived returned home in exchange for around 150 Russian prisoners of war.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the UAE for their diplomatic efforts in releasing the prisoners, which included ‘defenders of Azovstal and Mariupol’, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and Snake Island; some of whom had been imprisoned since the start of the invasion.
The Russian captives were primarily taken during Ukraine’s offensive in Kursk over the summer, and included military personel and two civilians, Zelensky announced on December 30.
One of the stated aims of the Kursk offensive was to secure a fresh batch of Russian prisoners which could be exchanged for Ukrainian captives.
‘The return of our people from Russian captivity is always very good news for each of us. And today is one of such days: our team managed to bring 189 Ukrainians home,’ Zelensky shared on Telegram.
‘We are working to free each and every one from Russian captivity. This is our goal. We do not forget anyone,’ he added.
Zelensky said the 189 released are made up of 87 Armed Forces service members, 43 National Guard members, 33 border guards, and 24 sailors, as well as two journalists that became soldiers, Oleksandr Hudilin and Roman Borshch.
Video footage in Ukraine showed waiting spouses and some servicemen, many wrapped in blue and yellow national flags, weeping openly as they were reunited well after dark outside a building.
A child’s incredulous voice resounded over a mobile telephone: ‘Dad, is that you?’
‘My son is 5 years old now, the last time I saw him he was 2 years old,’ said Serhii, who was captured by Russian forces at the Azovstal steel mill in the southern port Mariupol, which withstood a siege for nearly three months in 2022.
‘That’s why my son probably didn’t recognise me. I used to have a beard and hair. I lost 20 kg (44 pounds).’
For some former captives the return to freedom involved adjustment.
‘Even now I’m holding my hands behind my back, it has become a habit of mine,’ said Roman Borshch, 29. ‘Now I have to get used to being a free person again.’
Video posted by the Russian Defence Ministry showed smiling servicemen on a bus, some calling their families.
‘We’ll soon be home. How are the children? How is our boy?’ said one man.
‘I am overwhelmed by emotion,’ said another. ‘I still can’t quite believe that this has happened, that I am back home, that the ministry made such efforts, that we are remembered and valued.’
Denys Prokopenko, commander of the 12th Special Forces ‘Azov’ Brigade that defended the Azovstal mill, said 11 of his men were among those returning. Prokopenko was brought home in an earlier swap.
The swap was the 59th prisoner exhange since the war, and the largest since January 3 2024, which saw 478 caprives on both sides returned home.
A total of 1,358 Ukrainian soldiers have been released by Russia during 2024.
Russian forces are ‘suffering record losses’, Kyiv’s military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi claimed in Donetsk.
Putin’s troops are reportedly attacking along multiple points of Donetsk’s frontline, advancing towards Pokrovsk city.
Russian troops have taken more than 400 square miles of territory since February 2024 in the area.
However, these advances have resulted in a severe loss in military personnel.
‘The enemy continues to carry out continuous meaty assaults, suffering record losses,’ General Syrskyi said.
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Russia’s daily military casualties in the Donetsk area lie between 1,000 to 1,2000, Western intelligence estimates.
Last week it was reported that Slovakia could host peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in the future after receiving approval from Vladimir Putin.
The Russian President said the Slovakian authorities ‘…would be happy to provide their own country as a platform for negotiations’.
‘We are not opposed, if it comes to that. Why not? Because Slovakia holds a neutral position from our point of view,’
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