Ukraine, Russia swap 193 prisoners of war each in US, UAE-facilitated exchange

Ukraine and Russia conducted a prisoner of war swap on Friday, sending back 193 captured personnel each in an exchange both sides said was facilitated by the United States and the United Arab Emirates.

“It is important that ‌there are ‌exchanges and that our people ‌are ⁠returning home,” said ⁠Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a post on Telegram.

His chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, and Russia’s defense ministry said the US and the UAE had assisted ⁠with the exchange. Russia and Ukraine ‌have conducted ‌many prisoner swaps over four years of war, ‌exchanging thousands of captives in ‌total.

Zelensky said some of the returned captives, who included soldiers, border guards and police, had injuries, while others had ‌faced criminal charges in Russia.

In Ukraine, returning captives streamed ⁠off ⁠buses, many draped in their country’s flag and overwhelmed with emotion.

“It still hasn’t sunk in that I’m home, I was in captivity for three years ... our Ukrainian sky, our trees — this is happiness,” said Serhiy, a soldier, who gave only his first name.