Ukraine says it brings home 189 POWs in swap with Russia

KYIV: Ukraine and Russia have carried out a new exchange of prisoners of war, with Kyiv bringing home 189 former captives, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday (Dec 30).

Zelenskyy thanked the United Arab Emirates and other partners for facilitating the swap.

"The return of our people from Russian captivity is always very good news for each of us. And today is one of such days: our team managed to bring 189 Ukrainians home," Zelenskyy said on the Telegram messaging app.

The Russian Defence Ministry reported the prisoner swap earlier on Monday, saying each side had freed 150 prisoners of war. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy in the numbers reported.

Zelenskyy said the returning Ukrainians included soldiers, sergeants and officers from different frontline areas, and also two civilians who had been captured in the southern port of Mariupol taken by Russian troops in 2022.

Pictures released by Zelenskyy showed dozens of men sitting in a bus, some of them wrapped in Ukraine's national blue and yellow flags.

The two sides have exchanged hundreds of captive soldiers since Russia began its military assault on Ukraine in February 2022, in one of the few areas of cooperation.

"We are working to free everyone from Russian captivity. This is our goal. We do not forget anyone," Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine said on Monday that Moscow had released a total of 3,956 people - soldiers and civilians - in deals with Kyiv since the start of the conflict. 

A video published by Russia's human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova showed soldiers gathered outside buses, wearing winter clothes and military fatigues.

"I thank you for your service, patience and courage," Moskalkova said, wishing them a happy New Year's holiday.

"Very soon our guys will embrace their relatives and friends and celebrate the New Year in their native land," she wrote in a Telegram message accompanying the video.