49 prisoners are returned to Ukraine as part of a POW exchange with Russia

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced on Friday that Ukraine had successfully negotiated the release of 49 inmates from Russian custody as part of the most recent prisoner swap with Moscow.

According to a representative for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, the United Arab Emirates acted as a mediator in the most recent exchange since Russia’s invasion in 2022.

“We always hope for and strive assiduously to see another return of our people… “Every single one of our people, military and civilian, must return home,” Zelenskiy declared on X, marking the 56th exchange with Russia.

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff for Zelenskiy, stated on the messaging app Telegram that the Ukrainians who were freed comprised seven civilians in addition to members of the border guard service, police, national guard, and armed forces.

Ukraine remained silent on the number of Russians freed. Moscow has not yet responded to the switch.

“Thank you for enduring it all” pamphlets, flowers, and hugs were shown being given to service men in video footage that Ukraine made public from an undisclosed location. A freed prisoner sobbed while clutching the pamphlet close to his chest.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kyiv and Moscow have regularly traded prisoners; Friday’s swap was the second since Ukraine started a cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk area in early August.

Ukraine claimed that during the operation, its forces had apprehended at least 600 Russian servicemen, and that this would enable it to obtain the release of its own captive citizens.

According to Yermak, some of the freed Ukrainians had fought to defend Mariupol and the Azovstal steel mill in the southern port city, which is currently controlled by Russian forces after being under siege in heavy warfare.

Since the invasion began, 3,569 persons have been freed from Russian captivity, according to Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets.