Greater than 470 prisoners of battle return residence on either side after the swap offers stalled within the latter half of 2023.

Russia and Ukraine have exchanged lots of of prisoners of battle within the greatest single launch of captives since Russia’s invasion started in February 2022.

Ukrainian officers mentioned on Wednesday that 230 of its prisoners have been launched whereas Russia mentioned 248 of its troopers have been returned after mediation by the United Arab Emirates.

Whereas the 2 sides have gone by way of a number of exchanges in the course of the battle, swap offers stalled within the latter half of final yr. The most recent alternate was the primary in nearly 5 months.

“Greater than 200 of our troopers and civilians have been returned from Russian captivity,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy introduced in a submit on the Telegram messaging app that included a video of uniformed males celebrating.

Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, mentioned 230 Ukrainian prisoners, together with six civilians, had been launched, marking what he mentioned was the forty ninth alternate between the 2 sides.

Kyiv mentioned this was the most important documented swap of troops to this point.

A few of the Ukrainians had been held since 2022. Amongst them have been some who fought in milestone battles for Ukraine’s Snake Island and port metropolis of Mariupol.

The Russian Ministry of Defence mentioned 248 of its troopers had been returned after “complicated” negotiations by the UAE. Russian officers supplied no different particulars of the alternate.

Assaults on Belgorod

Additionally on Wednesday, Russia mentioned it shot down 12 missiles fired at one in every of its southern areas bordering Ukraine.

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod area, Vyacheslav Gladkov, mentioned the scenario “continues to stay tense” after Ukraine launched repeated missile and drone assaults.

Whereas there have been no experiences on casualty numbers from the newest assault, Gladkov mentioned authorities have been evacuating residents close to probably unexploded munitions with bomb disposal items known as in to guage the hazard.

Defence Ministry technicians have been engaged on disposing of an unexploded projectile, and about 600 residents from 323 homes inside a 500-metre (550-yard) radius had been evacuated, he mentioned.

Gladkov added that a number of different villages additionally got here beneath fireplace in Wednesday’s assault and an influence line was knocked out.

Russia’s Defence Ministry mentioned Ukraine fired six Tochka-U ballistic missiles and 6 guided missiles from a Vilkha heavy a number of rocket launcher.

Ukraine has escalated its assaults on Belgorod over the New 12 months interval after Russia launched a few of its most vital assaults on Ukraine for the reason that battle started.

On Tuesday, Kyiv mentioned Moscow had launched greater than 300 assault drones and missiles of assorted varieties throughout Ukraine since Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised that Kyiv’s assaults on Belgorod would “not go unpunished”.