Russia and Ukraine carried out their third prisoner exchange in Kiev on Saturday, swapping more than 100 prisoners. independence day Since the full-scale invasion of Moscow.
Ukraine He said the 115 freed servicemen were conscripts, many of whom had been taken prisoner in the first months of the Russian invasion, including about 50 soldiers held by Russian forces at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.
The Russian Defense Ministry said 115 Russian soldiers were captured in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces launched a surprise attack on Russia two weeks ago. The ministry said the soldiers were currently in Belarus but would be transferred to Russia for treatment and rehabilitation.
Efrem Lukatskiy/AP
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X that the UAE had again brokered the exchange, the 55th since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.
A photo accompanying Zelensky’s post showed a skinny military man with a shaven head and a Ukrainian flag wrapped around his head.
“We remember everyone. We are searching and doing our best to rescue everyone,” Zelensky said in the post.
Officials from both sides only meet to exchange dead and prisoners, after lengthy preparations and diplomatic negotiations. Neither Ukraine nor Russia will disclose the total number of prisoners taken.
According to the United Nations, most Ukrainian prisoners of war have suffered routine medical neglect, severe and systematic ill-treatment, and even torture while in detention, and there are sporadic reports of Russian soldiers being mistreated during capture and transport to detention camps.
January, Russia and Ukraine exchange hundreds of prisoners Biggest single release.
Two years ago, Zelensky said Russian troops The rocket attack was launched at a train station in Ukraine on the country’s Independence Day, when the country is still in conflict. Twenty-two people were killed, and Mr Zelenskiy had warned in the days before that Moscow could plot “something particularly cruel”.
Ukrainian news agencies reported that the deadly attack took place in Chaplyne, a town of about 3,500 people in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, Zelenskiy said in a video address to the UN Security Council. The presidential office also reported that an 11-year-old child was killed in a rocket attack in the same settlement earlier that day.
Drone and artillery attacks continue
Russian forces shelled Kherson, the capital of the partly occupied Kherson Oblast in southern Ukraine, on Saturday, killing two people and wounding four, including an infant, local authorities said.
The Ukrainian Air Force said it had intercepted and destroyed seven drones over the country’s south. Russian long-range bombers also attacked the area around Zmyny (Snake) Island with four cruise missiles, and airstrikes were also carried out in the Kherson region.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday that its air defenses had shot down seven drones overnight.
Five drones were shot down over the southwestern Voronezh region on the Ukrainian border, wounding two people, the region’s governor, Alexander Gusev, said. The Astra news agency released a video that appeared to show an explosion at an ammunition depot hit by the drone, but the video could not be independently verified.
Two people were wounded in the drone attack in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, the region’s governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said. In Bryansk region, where a fifth drone was intercepted, local authorities reported no casualties.
Kursk Region governor Alexei Smirnov said Saturday that three missiles were shot down overnight and four more on Saturday morning.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday morning that Russian air defenses had shot down two more drones, one over the Kursk region and the other over the Bryansk region.
Independence Day celebrations
Ukraine marked its 33rd Independence Day on Saturday, marking 30 months of its war against Russian aggression. No celebrations are planned, and Ukrainians will instead mark the day by remembering civilians and soldiers killed in the war.
Polish President Duda arrived in Kiev by train early on Saturday in a symbolic show of support for one of Ukraine’s main allies.
A video posted by his office showed him being received by Ukrainian officials and then paying his respects in a ceremony at the Ukrainian War Wall.
Duda’s visit to Kyiv will be his fifth since February 2022, sending the message that Warsaw’s support for Ukraine remains strong as the war enters its third year.
Poland, which lies to the west of Ukraine, has donated arms and acted as a base for Western arms destined for Ukraine, and has hosted tens of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing the war, becoming the second-largest host country for Ukrainian refugees abroad after Germany.
a Ukraine’s grain trade dispute The situation in Ukraine, which soured relations between the two countries last year, and historical resentment between the two countries can sometimes stoke bad feelings, especially among Poles who remember massacres by Ukrainian nationalists during World War II.
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