logo
Ukraine brings back 150 POWs from Russian captivity in prisoner swap

Ukraine brings back 150 POWs from Russian captivity in prisoner swap

Yahoo05-02-2025
Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Ukraine brought back 150 Ukrainian service members from Russian captivity, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Feb. 5, marking another prisoner exchange between Kyiv and Moscow.
The released Ukrainian captives included members of the Navy, the Air Force, the Airborne Troops, the National Guard, the State Border Guard, the Territorial Defense Forces, and a police officer, according to the president.
"They are all from different sectors of the front, but they have one thing in common: they fought for Ukraine," Zelensky said on Telegram.
Concurrently, Russia announced the return of 150 Russian prisoners of war (POWs) from Ukrainian captivity.
Read also: Over 45,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed since start of war, Zelensky says
We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Trump and Putin to meet one-on-one in Alaska
Trump and Putin to meet one-on-one in Alaska

Yahoo

time35 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Trump and Putin to meet one-on-one in Alaska

Donald Trump will meet with Vladimir Putin 'one-on-one' in Alaska, the White House has confirmed. The two leaders will not be flanked by their advisers when they come face-to-face for a highly-anticipated meeting in Anchorage on Friday to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, Mr Trump's press secretary said. Tempering expectations of the leaders making a breakthrough, Karoline Leavitt insisted the summit was a 'listening exercise' for Mr Trump. '...the goal of this meeting for the president is to walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war,' Ms Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday. 'It is a listening exercise for the president. Look, only one party that's involved in this war is going to be present, and so this is for the president to go and to get, again, a more firm and better understanding of how we can hopefully bring this war to an end,' she added. Asked if the pair were meeting one-on-one, she added: 'That's part of the plan'. Volodymyr Zelensky's exclusion from the talks has fuelled fears that Mr Trump and Putin will agree to terms to ending the war which are unfavourable for Ukraine. Ukraine could agree to stop fighting and cede territory already held by Russia as part of a European-backed plan for peace, The Telegraph revealed. This would mean freezing the front line where it is and handing Russia de facto control of the territory it occupies in Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Crimea. Just days before the pair arrive in Alaska, a state whose closest point to Russia is only three miles across the Bering Strait, Mr Zelensky claimed Putin was preparing for a new offensive. 'We see that the Russian army is not preparing to end the war,' he wrote on X. 'On the contrary, they are making movements that indicate preparations for new offensive operations. In such circumstances, it is important that the unity of the world is not threatened.' While the White House has not divulged Putin's demands, it has continued to manage expectations over the outcome of the talks. On Monday, Mr Trump described the summit as a 'feel-out meeting', suggesting he would be able to gauge if Putin was serious about peace within minutes. 'I think the president of the United States getting in the room with the president of Russia sitting face-to-face, rather than speaking over the telephone, will give this president the best indication of how to end this war and where this is headed,' Mrs Leavitt added. European diplomats say there has been no notable change in Putin's overall war aims, which are to topple Mr Zelensky's government and replace it with a Moscow-friendly proxy. European leaders are expected to hold talks with Mr Trump on Wednesday to make their case and outline concerns to him.

French president hired investigator to uncover dirt on right-wing U.S. podcaster Candace Owens
French president hired investigator to uncover dirt on right-wing U.S. podcaster Candace Owens

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

French president hired investigator to uncover dirt on right-wing U.S. podcaster Candace Owens

French President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron hired a prominent U.S. investigative firm to gather information on far-right podcaster Candace Owens before filing a defamation lawsuit against her in Delaware, according to reporting by the Financial Times. Keep up with the latest in + news and politics. The 219-page complaint, filed in July in Delaware Superior Court, accuses Owens of leading a 'campaign of global humiliation' through an eight-part YouTube series and social media posts promoting false and transphobic claims about Brigitte Macron. The allegations include that the French first lady is transgender, that she assumed her brother's identity, and that the French president is the product of a CIA mind-control experiment. The lawsuit says Owens also claimed the couple are blood relatives. Related: French President Macron sues Candace Owens for defamation over claims his wife is transgender The FT reports that to prepare for the suit, the Macrons retained Nardello & Co., a U.S.-based firm led by former federal prosecutor Dan Nardello. Investigators reviewed Owens's public statements, documented her ties to far-right figures in France, Britain, and the United States, and noted her appearances on Russian state-controlled media. The report also traced the conspiracy theory's origins to a Spanish blog in 2017, its spread in France by 2021, and its promotion in 2023 by French far-right activist Xavier Poussard. Related: Alex Jones's lawyer mocks Candace Owens's chances in Emmanuel Macron's defamation lawsuit Owens first referenced the rumor on her show in March 2024, later devoting a full interview to Poussard. Russian outlets heavily covered her series once it was released. Investigators also highlighted her participation in a 2019 nationalist conference in Paris alongside politician Marion Maréchal and her online interactions with Russian nationalist Alexander Dugin. The Owens claims against Brigitte Macron are part of a pattern of online harassment known as 'transvestigation,' in which activists target public figures with fabricated claims that they are secretly trans. While Owens has dismissed the lawsuit, some of her allies have questioned her chances. Robert Barnes, a far-right attorney known for representing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, wrote on X that 'Owens told some of the dumbest, obvious lies one can tell' and has '0 percent chance of winning in court.' Related: Candace Owens claims Donald Trump asked her to stop calling Emmanuel Macron's wife transgender Macron's attorney, Thomas Clare, told the Financial Times the couple is willing to testify in Delaware. No trial date has been set. This article originally appeared on Advocate: French president hired investigator to uncover dirt on right-wing U.S. podcaster Candace Owens RELATED Beyond the Macrons' lawsuit: Why do people accuse powerful women of being men? French President Macron sues Candace Owens for defamation over claims his wife is transgender Alex Jones's lawyer mocks Candace Owens's chances in Emmanuel Macron's defamation lawsuit Solve the daily Crossword

Why Putin thinks he can win in Ukraine despite huge Russian death toll
Why Putin thinks he can win in Ukraine despite huge Russian death toll

New York Post

timean hour ago

  • New York Post

Why Putin thinks he can win in Ukraine despite huge Russian death toll

Putin is under pressure to agree to a ceasefire. Few leaders would continue to pursue a war that has cost around a million casualties and where outright victory looks impossible. But while he might agree to an end to the exchange of drone barrages, which are causing huge damage to Russian oil and gas facilities, the bloody ground war is likely to continue. While Russia may be suffering a thousand casualties a day, the grim mathematics involved means that Putin can take those losses and see the result as a win, because no amount of human suffering weighs in his calculus. Advertisement Russia is advancing, but at a slow rate and huge cost. In June, Russia gained about 190 square miles or less than 0.1% of Ukrainian territory. As Michael Kofman recently noted after a trip to Ukraine, mass attacks with armored vehicles are vanishingly rare. Pervasive drone surveillance means any movement is spotted miles before it reaches the front line, and a mass of First Person View drones hits any assault group long before it gets within sight of Ukrainian forces. Instead, attacks are a matter of trying to infiltrate the lightly held Ukrainian lines. Russian forces advance stealthily or rapidly on foot, trying to get through the barrage of FPV drones. Advertisement 'Russian attacks are sometimes in 4-6-man groups, but in many cases have decreased to numerous 2-3-man sections trying to penetrate in between Ukrainian positions,' Kaufman notes. 'Russian infantry seeks to advance as far as possible past Ukraine's initial line and entrench there. Although many may be lost, some get through and entrench, awaiting reinforcements. Much the same can be said of motorcycle and buggy assaults. . . . Most fail, but not all, leading to small tactical advances.' Losses are high and successes rare. But if commanders throw enough troops against a line for long enough, they eventually push it back. Some reports suggest that the casualties are a point of pride among Russian commanders, who boast about the number of troops they lost to gain a position — ''I killed five Storm units to take this village' is a typical attitude, according to Russian bloggers translated by Chris_O. Advertisement Casualty rates of 80% or more among assault units are reportedly commonplace, with injured survivors rounded up and forced to join the next wave — even on crutches. Technical specialists and other troops are drafted into assault units. The entire crew of Russia's only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, was sent ashore, reorganized as a naval infantry unit, and deployed to the Pokrovsk sector in 2024. Ukrainian casualties are unknown but likely very much lighter. Defending forces typically only lose a fraction as many as attackers. And very few Ukrainian soldiers now have contact with the enemy as drones take on more and more of the fighting. But as long as Russia's war machine gets a supply of fresh bodies, it can continue to advance. Advertisement According to the Institute for the Study of War, in 2024, each square mile cost around 150 Russian casualties. By mid-2025, Ukrainian Presidential Office Deputy Head Pavlo Palisa gave a figure of 432 casualties per square mile. It is expensive territory, but Putin wants to buy it because he can. Casualties on this scale might be unthinkable to Western nations, but in Russia, few people seem troubled by the scale of losses, as far as they are aware of them. 'Many people are actually not aware of the nature and scale of casualties,' Samuel Bendett, an expert on the Russian scene and advisor to the CNAS and CSIS think tanks, told me. 'And the official propaganda and all manner of social media tools such as pro-Kremlin Telegram channels state that sacrifices are necessary.' Russia takes great pride in the many giant cemeteries honoring the over 20 million Soviet dead lost in WWII, known as the Great Patriotic War. War in Russia is all about sacrifice for the Motherland, the individual dying and achieving glory for the greater good. Putin made this exact point in a televised meeting with the mother of a dead soldier in 2022. 'Some people die in road accidents, others from alcohol — when they die, it's unclear how. But your son lived, do you understand? He fulfilled his purpose,' Putin told the mother. Advertisement One of the main reasons there is no public outcry is that the men dying are not young conscripts (known as 'Mobiks') but contract soldiers ('Kontraktniki') who sign up voluntarily for a fixed duration. The Mobiks, perhaps 25% of the army, are kept well back, Kontraktniki go to the front. The amounts of money on offer are, to Russians, staggering. One region offers a million rubles (about $12,000), while the national government adds another 400,000 (about $5,000) to new soldiers. In some of the poorer Russian regions like the Caucasus, the average monthly is just 35,000 rubles ($400). Signing on the army is like winning a game show — you get several years' salary in one lump and are seen as a sort of patriotic hero. And if the recruit is killed, their families get a lavish payout, at least in theory. 'Many underprivileged men see it as an opportunity to earn money and do something really great in their generally miserable life,' notes analyst Kirill Shamiev in a detailed Twitter thread on public opinion in Russia. Advertisement Recruits typically come from deprived areas, and as Russia's economy disintegrates in slow motion, the bonanza offered by the army looks increasingly appealing. Because Russia is not seeking high quality troops, they will take anyone. An RBC report from the city of Mordovia describes how the recruiters visit homeless shelters looking for recruits, regardless of their mental condition or whether they are drug addicts or alcoholics: 'People who show at least minimal interest are immediately offered to sign a contract for military service.' In the early years of the war, Russia had thousands of convicts who were recruited directly from prisons under a special program, and mercenaries like the Wagner group, both of which took disproportionate casualties because they were expendable without affecting public opinion. While these sources have dried up, Russia can now also count on North Korean troops, who again are thrown into the most intense combat and suffer a high rate of casualties. Advertisement But most of those that are being fed into the meat grinder are Kontraktniki, and Russia is recruiting them, and losing them, at a rate of around 30,000 a month. A country of 140 million can sustain losses at this rate for a considerable period. And as long as they are seen as patriotic volunteers dying for a cause — 'fulfilling their purpose' as Putin has it — there is no public outcry. From Putin's point of view, this slow, grinding advance is a winning strategy. He is gaining territory and counting on Ukraine facing a political crisis in the coming months. If a future ceasefire freezes the existing situation on the ground, every day of fighting is a day of progress. Advertisement Several things could change this: accelerating economic collapse, more military aid to Ukraine, or a successful Ukrainian offensive. Without these, expect the bloodshed to continue. Reprinted with permission from Forbes.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store