The major exchange was conducted following “difficult” negotiations, Moscow says
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that 55 Russian and Donbass soldiers have been released as part of a major prisoner exchange with Ukraine.
The freed soldiers have been airlifted to Russia and are receiving “psychological and medical care,” the ministry added.
According to the Defense Ministry, the swap occurred after “difficult” negotiations, and the detainees’ lives were “under threat” in Kiev’s custody.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said on Thursday that 215 Ukrainian soldiers were released, as well as 10 foreigners who were fighting alongside Ukrainian troops. Zelensky noted that Turkey and Saudi Arabia mediated the negotiations.
According to Zelensky, Russia handed over more than 100 members of Ukraine’s Azov Battalion, whose ranks include fighters with openly nationalist and neo-Nazi views. Zelensky said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had agreed that several top Ukrainian commanders would be under his “protection.”
The prisoner exchange was confirmed a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a partial mobilization of reservists.
Ex-Ukrainian opposition leader freed in swap with Kiev – DPR head
The head of the Donetsk republic confirmed that Viktor Medvedchuk was released in a prisoner exchange with Ukraine
Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) head Denis Pushilin has confirmed that Kiev has released former Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Medvedchuk as part of a large prisoner swap with Russia.
The Ukrainian authorities charged Medvedchuk with treason last year and banned his party, Opposition Platform – For Life, after Russia launched its military operation in the neighboring country in February.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Pushilin praised Medvedchuk for his role in mediating past prisoner exchanges between Ukraine and the DPR. “With Medvdchuk’s participation, more than a thousand of your lads were freed. They wouldn’t have survived in the conditions [of captivity in Ukraine],” he said.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky revealed on Thursday that 215 Ukrainian soldiers were released, among them more than 100 members of the Azov Battalion, whose ranks include fighters with openly nationalist and neo-Nazi views.
とは捕虜交換を行った。
— オーウェル1984 (@nanpinQD) September 22, 2022
は215人の人を引き渡し、その中にはアゾフ大隊の指揮官、デニス・プロコペンコ、スヴャトスラフ・パラマル、第36海兵旅団セルゲイ・ヴォリンスキーの司令官、狙撃兵のエカテリーナ・ポリシュチュクがいた。 pic.twitter.com/RjqPfU7pBt
国防省やFSBのトップの方が目立つのは承知していますが、テロリストと認定された犯罪者を軍人と交換することはできないと思います。 同等の交換があれば理解できます-兵士と兵士、エージェントとエージェント。 軍の囚人がたくさんいますが、少なくとも100人を1人に変更しても、彼らは残ります。 pic.twitter.com/UHNV4Hh4wz
— オーウェル2022 (@GOrwell2022) September 22, 2022
Disaster once again. All the big talk about holding Azov for their crimes in the past 8years, trials, etc and then swap them. What a joke the Russian ellite turned out to be. If the point is a puppet to instal, Kostia the local bus driver will do just as good of a job. Shame
— LePetitPR (@Pikku_Prinsinn) September 23, 2022