Ukraine handed them over… Russia announces the return of 10 prisoners of war

Russia has announced that it recovered 10 prisoners of war as part of a prisoner exchange with Ukraine, according to Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova on Wednesday.

Moskalkova wrote on social media: “In exchange for the return of Ukrainian prisoners of war on August 24, the Ukrainian side handed Russia ten of our fighters.”

Regular prisoner exchanges

Kyiv and Moscow regularly carry out prisoner exchanges, in what represents one of the few forms of cooperation between the two sides of the conflict.

Ukraine considers tens of thousands of military personnel and civilians to be missing, as authorities have been unable to confirm whether they were killed or captured by Russian forces.

Russia and Ukraine have exchanged thousands of prisoners since the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine in February 2022.

Ongoing mediation efforts led by the United Arab Emirates between Russia and Ukraine since the outbreak of the crisis on February 24, 2022, have resulted in 26 mediation efforts that led to the exchange of 7,997 prisoners.

The most recent of these mediation efforts, carried out in August this year, resulted in the exchange of 206 prisoners, divided equally between the two sides.

The United Arab Emirates continues its diplomatic and humanitarian efforts to support a peaceful resolution to the crisis. It has also hosted Russian-Ukrainian-US talks and provided humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, benefiting more than 1.2 million people.

Thousands of Ukrainians in captivity

According to Kyiv, more than 15,000 Ukrainian civilians are being held in Russian prisons.

In February, Zelensky also stated that around 7,000 Ukrainian military personnel were being held in captivity.

The latest exchange comes as part of the regular prisoner exchanges between the two countries since the outbreak of the war.