Tweet shared by Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff showing a new prisoner exchange carried out between Kyiv and Moscow on December 31, 2022. – Twitter screenshot
82 Russians and 140 Ukrainians were able to return home on Saturday December 31st. “We will bring all our people back,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff promised.
Shortly before Vladimir Putin’s New Year’s speech on Saturday evening, his Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu hinted that a new prisoner exchange between Kyiv and Moscow had taken place on the last day of 2022.
A total of 222 men were released on Saturday. 82 Russian side, 140 Ukrainian side. The announcement was confirmed by Andriy Yermak, director of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s cabinet.
“We will bring all our people back”
“On New Year’s Day we not only repelled enemy missile attacks, but also united our people,” he tweeted, referring to the 12 Russian cruise missiles intercepted by Ukraine’s air defenses on Saturday.
Then further: “A new and important prisoner exchange has been successfully carried out – 140 Ukrainian citizens return home”.
Andriy Yermak accompanied his tweet with a video showing some of the released Ukrainian prisoners. We can see soldiers in front of several Ukrainian flags shouting Slava Ukraini! (Honour of Ukraine in French, editor’s note).
Photos were also shared, this time showing a reunion between a mother and her son and an injured soldier leaning on a crutch while smoking.
“We will get all our people back. There is no other way,” promised Andriy Yermak.
270 soldiers were exchanged in September
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, numerous prisoner exchanges have been carried out between Kyiv and Moscow. The most important dates from last September. 270 soldiers were exchanged between the two countries, 55 Russians and 215 Ukrainians.
Among those recovered from Kyiv in this exchange were many men who had fought at the Azovstal Steel Works in the now-occupied city of Mariupol.
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108 men from the Azov regiment, accused by the Russians of being Nazis, were also able to escape from Russian prisons. However, some commanders had not been allowed to reach Ukrainian soil.
They were transferred to Turkey under an agreement signed under the aegis of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, where they are expected to remain until the end of the war.
During the September exchange, Moscow secured the release of Viktor Medvedchuk, a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin who is accused of treason in Ukraine. Finally, on November 3, 214 soldiers were released, including 107 on the Russian and Ukrainian sides.
Original article published on BFMTV.com
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