Ukraine and Russia exchange more than a hundred prisoners of war

kyiv, Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine exchanged more than 100 prisoners of war on Saturday as kyiv marks its third Independence Day since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion.

Ukraine said the 115 freed Ukrainian soldiers were conscripts and many had been detained in the early months of the Russian invasion. They included about 50 soldiers captured by Kremlin forces after the siege of the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its 115 soldiers were captured in Russia’s Kursk region, where Kiev troops launched a surprise attack two weeks ago. The soldiers were in Belarus but will be transferred to Russia for medical treatment and rehabilitation, it added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy explained in a post on X that the United Arab Emirates once again acted as a mediator in the exchange, the 55th since the start of the Russian operation in the neighboring country in February 2022.

The images accompanying the president’s message showed emaciated soldiers with shaved heads and draped in Ukrainian flags.

“We remember each and every one of them. We are searching and doing everything possible to bring them all back,” Zelenskyy added.

Officials from both sides meet only when exchanging dead and prisoners of war, after lengthy preparations and diplomatic efforts. Neither Ukraine nor Russia say how many prisoners of war there are in total.

According to the United Nations, most Ukrainians suffer routine medical neglect, severe and systemic ill-treatment and even torture while in detention. There have also been isolated reports of abuse of Russian soldiers, mostly during capture or transit to detention facilities.

Last January, Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war in the largest exchange operation.

Five people were killed and five others wounded on Saturday when Russian forces shelled the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, the capital of the Kherson region that is partially occupied by Moscow, local authorities said.

In the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, Russian airstrikes killed two people and wounded four on Saturday, including a baby, officials said.

Two people have been killed in a Russian drone strike and another in a bombing in the northeastern region of Sumy.

The Ukrainian Air Force reported that it intercepted and destroyed seven drones over the south of the country. In addition, Russian long-range bombers attacked the area of ​​Zmiinyi (Snake) Island with four cruise missiles, while the rest of the Kherson region was hit by aerial bombs.

In Russia, the Defense Ministry reported Saturday that its anti-aircraft defenses shot down seven drones overnight.

Five drones were neutralized over the southwestern Voronezh region on the border with Ukraine, causing two injuries, regional governor Aleksandr Gusev said. Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Directorate said it blew up a warehouse storing 5,000 tons of ammunition in the region’s Ostrogozhsky district. Videos published by the Astra news outlet appeared to show explosions at an ammunition depot after it was hit by a drone. The videos could not be independently verified.

Two people were injured in another drone attack in the border province of Belgorod, its governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Local authorities reported no injuries in Bryansk, the region where the fifth drone was intercepted.

In Kursk, where Ukrainian troops launched their surprise offensive into Russian territory two weeks ago, Governor Alexei Smirnov said Saturday that three missiles were shot down overnight and another four on Saturday morning.

Russian air defenses also neutralized two drones in Kursk and Bryansk on Saturday morning, according to the Russian ministry.

Ukraine marked the 33rd anniversary of its independence on Saturday as the war against Russian aggression enters its 30th month. No celebrations were organised and instead Ukrainians will mark the date with tributes to civilians and soldiers who have lost their lives since the start of the conflict.

At a ceremony to mark the anniversary, Zelenskyy announced on Saturday that Ukraine has successfully used a new domestically produced drone against Russian forces for the first time.

“Today we had the first successful combat use of our new weapon: a completely new type of weapon, the Ukrainian missile drone ‘Palyanitsa,’” Zelenskyy said.

He did not give further details, but added that “the enemy was attacked” and thanked the developers and manufacturers.

Polish President Andrzej Duda arrived by train in kyiv early on Saturday in a symbolic show of support from one of the country’s main allies.

Videos posted by his office showed him being greeted by Ukrainian officials and later paying his respects at a ceremony at the Wall of Remembrance for Ukraine’s Fallen.

Duda’s visit to kyiv, his fifth since February 2022, sends a message that Warsaw’s support for Ukraine remains strong as the war stretches into its third year.

Poland, located to the west of Ukraine, has donated weapons and become a hub for Western arms destined for Ukraine. It has also taken in tens of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing the war. It hosts the largest number of Ukrainian refugees outside the country after Germany.

A trade dispute over Ukrainian grain that strained ties last year and historic grievances between the two countries sometimes provoke bad feelings, particularly among Poles who remember a World War II massacre perpetrated by Ukrainian nationalists.