Hundreds of Ukrainian and Russian soldiers return home after the exchange
Ukraine and Russia carried out a new prisoner-of-war exchange on Monday, with both sides repatriating a total of more than 300 former prisoners.
Kiev has brought home 189 former prisoners, President Vladimir Zelensky and the Russian Defense Ministry said, while the Russian ministry said 150 Russian servicemen had returned home.
The Russian ministry said that the prisoners were released in Belarus, a close ally of Moscow in the 34-month war with Ukraine, and will be handed over to Russia.
Reuters Television footage from Ukraine showed waiting spouses and some servicemen, many wrapped in blue and yellow national flags, clearly crying as they reunited outside the building after dark.
Ukrainian prisoners of war were reunited with their families in an emotional scene after being freed in a major swap between their country and Russia on Monday. One former inmate said his five-year-old son probably didn’t recognize him because he saw him when he was two.
The incredible voice of the child was heard from the mobile phone: “Dad, is that you?”
“My son is five years old now, the last time I saw him he was two years old,” said Serhii, who was captured by Russian forces at the Azovstal steel plant in the southern port of Mariupol, which has endured a nearly three-month siege. in 2022.
“That’s why my son probably didn’t recognize me. I used to have a beard and hair. I lost 20 kg.”
For some former POWs, returning to freedom was about adjustment.
29-year-old Roman Borsh said, “Even now I keep my hands behind my back, it has become my habit.” “Now I have to get used to being a free person again.”
The video released by the Ministry of Defense of Russia shows smiling soldiers on the bus, some of them calling their families.
“We’ll be home soon. How are the kids? How’s our son?” said a man.
“I was overcome with emotion,” said another. “I still cannot fully believe that this incident happened, that I returned to my homeland, that the ministry made such efforts, and they remember and appreciate us.”
Zelensky thanked the United Arab Emirates and other partners for facilitating the exchange process. The United Arab Emirates acknowledged that it helped organize the exchange.
“The return of our people from Russian captivity is always very good news for each of us. Today is one of those days: our team was able to bring home 189 Ukrainians,” Zelensky said in the Telegram messaging program.
No explanation was given as to why more Ukrainians than Russians were released; among the freed Ukrainians were also civilians in Russian captivity.
Zelensky said the returning Ukrainians included soldiers, sergeants and officers from various fronts, as well as two civilians captured in the southern port of Mariupol.
A besieged steel mill
Denis Prokopenko, commander of the 12th Special Forces “Azov” brigade, which defended the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol before it was captured by Russian forces, said that 11 of his men were among the returnees. Prokopenko was previously brought home in exchange.
This is Russia’s 59th exchange between the two sides since February 2022, the Ukrainian body that oversees Ukrainian exchanges said. With this, the number of Ukrainian prisoners who returned to their homeland reached 3956 people.
It was reported that among those who were brought home this year, there are Ukrainian citizens serving “so-called sentences” imposed by Russian courts for various crimes.
In October, in the last exchange carried out with the help of the United Arab Emirates, each of Russia and Ukraine brought home 95 prisoners.
The United States has announced that it will provide additional assistance to Ukraine
The prisoner exchange came as the United States on Monday announced nearly $6 billion in additional military and budget aid to Ukraine, as President Joe Biden uses his final weeks in office to boost aid to Kiev before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Biden announced $2.5 billion in additional security assistance for Ukraine.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the United States has allocated $3.4 billion in additional budget aid to Ukraine, providing critical resources to the war-torn country amid intensifying Russian attacks on its civilian population and infrastructure.
US President Joe Biden has announced that he has allocated about $6 billion in additional military and budget aid to Ukraine, including about $2.5 billion in security aid for the war-torn country. With only a few weeks left in Biden’s term, the 82-year-old president is using his final days in office to boost aid to Kiev before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
“At my direction, the United States will continue to work relentlessly to strengthen Ukraine’s position in this war during my time in office,” Biden said.
Biden’s announcement includes $1.25 billion in military aid from US reserves and a $1.22 billion US Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) package for Ukraine.
Biden said the new aid would provide Ukraine with “an immediate flow of capabilities that it continues to use to great effect on the battlefield and a long-term supply of air defense, artillery and other critical weapons systems.”
Nearly three years after the war, Washington has provided billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, but it is unclear whether aid will continue at this pace under Trump, who succeeded Biden on January 20.
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