(Bloomberg) — Russia said it exchanged 95 Ukrainian soldiers for an equal number of its force in the first major prisoner of war return in more than a month.
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Ukrainian officials didn’t immediately confirm the deal has taken place.
The exchange was mediated by the United Arab Emirates, Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement Friday.
Kyiv and Moscow have conducted dozens of prisoner exchanges since the start of Russia’s invasion, which is now well into its third year. The latest swap adds to the more than 3,600 captured soldiers who have been returned to Ukraine over the course of the war, according to Kyiv’s Coordination headquarters on POW treatment.
Friday’s swap followed a major prisoner of war exchange mediated by the UAE on Sept. 14-15. That saw 152 Ukrainian men and women returned home, according to Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian parliament’s human rights commissioner.
Ukraine hasn’t released exact numbers of its citizens being held in Russia. In January, Kyiv reported that about 8,000 Ukrainians were prisoners of war, including more than 1,600 civilians, according to Interfax Ukraine. In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that 6,465 Ukrainian soldiers were held by Russia and 1,348 Russian service members by Ukraine. These claims couldn’t be independently verified.
–With assistance from Daryna Krasnolutska.
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