06:46: Extensive prisoner exchange
This is the largest exchange since the beginning of the war. Ukraine on Wednesday announced exchanges of 215 military personnel with Russia, including defense chiefs from the Azovstal Steel Plant in the city of Mariupol.
For its part, Russia has released 55 prisoners, including ex-MP Viktor Medvedchuk, a close friend of Vladimir Putin who is accused of treason in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address.
As part of this “long-prepared operation”, five military commanders, “superheroes”, including Azovstal defense chiefs, have been transferred to Turkey, the Ukrainian President stressed. Negotiations for their replacement are “the longest and most difficult,” he added.
These people will remain in Turkey “in absolute safety and comfortable conditions” until “the end of the war” but will be able to meet their families there under the terms of an agreement with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to the head of the Ukrainian state.
A total of 188 “Heroes of Azovstal and Mariupol”, including 108 soldiers of the Azov regiment, were exchanged. “We will do everything to save all those who are in Russian captivity,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised, according to which pregnant women are among the exchanged prisoners.