MOSCOW: Russia and Ukraine each swapped 95 prisoners of war on Friday in an agreement completed with the help of the United Arab Emirates acting as mediator, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
The ministry, in a post on the Telegram messaging app, said the returning Russian service members were undergoing medical checks in Belarus, one of Russia’s closest allies in the more than 2-1/2-year-old war.
There was no immediate word of the exchange from Ukrainian authorities.
A private Russian group which says it looks after the interests of prisoners of war published a list of returnees and said most of those being brought home were captured in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces staged an incursion in August.
Those forces remain in Kursk, though Russia’s military says its forces have clawed back some of the captured territory.
Ukrainian officials gave no immediate confirmation of the swap.
The last swap — involving 103 prisoners from both sides — took place in September.
The Ukrainian state body looking after the interests of prisoners of war said that was the 57th exchange conducted since Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion.
Russia, Ukraine each swap 95 prisoners of war, Russian Defense Ministry says
https://arab.news/w5x7p
Russia, Ukraine each swap 95 prisoners of war, Russian Defense Ministry says
- The returning Russian service members were undergoing medical checks in Belarus
- There was no immediate word of the exchange from Ukrainian authorities
Ukraine, US, Europe still seeking common ground in peace talks, French official says
- French presidency official: “The European perspective of Ukraine is clear and it’s a realistic perspective”
PARIS: Ukraine, the United States and European powers are still working to find a joint position that would outline the contours of a peace deal, including security guarantees for Kyiv, that could be taken to Russia, a French presidency official said on Friday.
“Our goal is to have a common foundation that is solid for negotiation. This common ground must unite Ukrainians, Americans and Europeans,” the official told reporters in a briefing.
“It should allow us, together, to make a negotiating offer, a solid, lasting peace offer that respects international law and Ukraine’s sovereign interests, an offer that American negotiators are willing to bring to the Russians.”
The official said there was no joint document yet, but all sides would carry on negotiations in the coming days through various calls and meetings. He did not say whether Washington had set a deadline.
Kyiv is under pressure from the White House to secure a quick peace but is pushing back on a US-backed plan proposed last month that many see as favorable to Moscow.
Britain, France and Germany, along with other European partners and Ukraine, have been working frantically in the last few weeks to refine the original US proposals that envisaged Kyiv giving up swathes of its territory to Moscow, abandoning its ambition to join NATO and accepting limits on the size of its armed forces.
The French official said the talks aimed at narrowing differences with the United States and centered on territory and potential security guarantees for Ukraine once there is a peace accord.
Those discussions include the possibility of a NATO Article-5 type clause involving Washington that would seek to reassure Kyiv in case it was once again attacked by Russia, the official said.
The Europeans have also faced pressure in recent weeks with some American proposals touching on elements that concern NATO and the European Union, including suggestions on fast-tracking Ukraine’s accession to the bloc.
“The European perspective of Ukraine is clear and it’s a realistic perspective,” the official said. “That is what we are committed to and it is up to the Europeans and the Ukrainians to agree on how to proceed.”
