Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners of war for the first time in months

Ukraine and Russia They exchanged 75 prisoners of war each on Friday, in the first exchange of that type in the last three months, authorities reported. A few hours earlier, and in the same place, both sides also handed each other the bodies of their fallen soldiers.

The prisoners of ukrainian war, among whom were four civilians, were returned in several buses that arrived in the Sumy region, in the north of the country. When they got out of the units, they shouted with joy and called their families to tell them that they were home. Some knelt and kissed the ground, while others wrapped themselves in yellow and blue flags and hugged each other, bursting into tears. Many of them looked malnourished and poorly dressed.

The exchange of a total of 150 prisoners of war was the fourth carried out this year, and the 52nd since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. United Arab Emirates authorities said they helped negotiate the latest swap.

Both sides have blamed each other for what they say is a slowdown in exchanges.

In the past, Ukraine has urged Russia to redeem “all for all” and every week marches are held in that country to demand the release of prisoners of war. Vitalii Matviienko, a ukrainian official of the general offices that coordinate the exchanges, said that “Ukraine is always prepared”.

Tatyana Moskalkova, a Russian human rights defender, said earlier this week that kyiv was “new artificial demands”, without giving further explanations.

Among the people who returned to Ukraine On Friday is Roman Onyschuk, an IT worker who joined the ukrainian forces as a volunteer at the beginning of the Russian invasion. He was captured in March 2022 in the Kharkiv region.

“I just want to hear my wife’s voice and my son’s voice. I missed his three birthdays“, said. In the more than 800 days he spent in captivity, he never contacted his family, and he does not know which city they are in now, he claimed.

“It’s a little overwhelming”Onyschuk added.

With the prisoner exchanges, including the one on Friday, Ukraine has recovered a total of 3,210 Ukrainian military personnel and civilians since the outbreak of war, according to the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War in Ukraine.