KYIV: Ukraine and Russia have conducted their first prisoner exchange in months, each releasing at least 157 people, both countries said Thursday, amid US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi aimed at ending the war.
The two sides have in the past conducted several rounds of prisoner swaps, one of the rare areas of direct cooperation between Ukraine and Russia amid the four-year war, but last month Kyiv accused Moscow of halting the exchanges.
On Thursday, amid three-way talks in Abu Dhabi, the countries swapped 157 captured soldiers and civilians each in an exchange mediated by Washington — the first since October.
“Today’s exchange came after a long pause, and it is critical that we were able to make it happen. I thank everyone who works to make these exchanges possible,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media.
Images he posted showed the released prisoners, their heads freshly shaven, wrapped in Ukrainian flags and smiling amid falling snow.
Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said among the 157 Ukrainians released “are seven civilians and those whom the Russians unlawfully convicted.”
Zelensky’s aide Kyrylo Budanov said that in the group of the freed prisoners were 19 Ukrainians “who were illegally sentenced, 15 of them to life imprisonment.”
Russia, who said the United States and United Arab Emirates acted as mediators for the exchange, announced earlier it had handed over 157 Ukrainian soldiers and that 157 Russian servicemen were returned.
“In addition, three Russian citizens, residents of the Kursk region... will be returned home,” the Russian defense ministry said in a statement.
Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion into Russia’s western Kursk region in 2024.