230 Returned Home in Prisoners Exchange, Including Defenders of Azovstal and Snake Island
224 Ukrainian POWs and six civilians have returned home after a prisoner exchange with Russia, announced President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Jan 3.
Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets later added that the number included defenders of Azovstal and Mariupol more broadly, as well as of Snake Island, whose defiant stand against the Russian Navy has been a rallying cry for Ukrainians since the early weeks of the full-scale invasion.
The Ombudsman further stated that Ukraine strives to exchange all its citizens and continues to work on this issue. This was the 49th official exchange, with 2,828 redeemed prisoners in total.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced the return of 248 captured occupiers in exchange. The United Arab Emirates acted as the mediator for the deal.
Before that, the last public exchange of prisoners of war between Ukraine and Russia took place at the beginning of August 2023 and returned 22 soldiers.
On December 19, at a press conference, Zelenskyy stated that the exchange of prisoners of war between Ukraine and the aggressor country of the Russian Federation has slowed down because of the intransigence of the Russian side. However, currently, the Ukrainian authorities are working on the return of "quite a good number" of Ukrainian prisoners.
On December 27, Lubinets said that since August 2023, " field" exchanges of prisoners have been taking place between Ukraine and Russia by agreement between military units fighting against each other.
However, according to him, the Russian Federation deliberately chose the tactic of not returning prisoners to create additional tension within Ukraine.
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