Ukraine, Russia exchange another group of POWs
Ukraine and Russia exchanged a new group of captured soldiers on Thursday, the latest in a series of prisoner swaps agreed at peace talks in Istanbul earlier this month.
Neither side said how many prisoners were released in the latest exchange.
The two countries pledged to swap at least 1,000 soldiers each during their direct meeting in Istanbul on June 2, but no follow-up talks have been scheduled.
The return of prisoners of war and the repatriation of war dead have been among the few areas of cooperation between the warring sides since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.
'Today, warriors of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, and the State Border Guard Service are returning home,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media.
He shared images of Ukrainian soldiers draped in blue-and-yellow national flags, smiling and tearfully embracing.
'The vast majority of the defenders released today had been held captive for more than three years,' Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said.
'Many of them were captured during the defense of Mariupol,' it added.
The grueling siege of Mariupol at the start of Russia's 2022 offensive is seen one of the most brutal battles of the conflict.
Russia said its soldiers had been transferred to Belarus and were receiving 'psychological and medical care.'
'Another group of Russian servicemen has been returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime,' the defense ministry said in a statement.
It posted a video showing freed Russian soldiers draped in their national flag, chanting 'Russia, Russia, Russia!'
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