Ukraine, Russia begin biggest prisoner swap of war

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Chernegio Region, Ukraine: Ukraine and Russia launched a large prisoner exchange on Friday, which Moscow attacked more than three years ago.

In this first phase, both sides received 390 people. It is expected that a direct dialogue agreement in Istanbul last week will be exchanged for each of them as a whole. The process will continue for three days, Kiev said.

Russia has made regular exchanges since the aggressive start of 2022 – but no one has been on this scale. Pictures released by Kiev show that Ukrainian soldiers have been shown smiling and hugging after being released, some of them entered the bright flags of Ukraine.

“The first phase of a 1,000 -exchange deal has been completed for ´1,000,” Ukrainian President Wolodmeer Zelannsky said in a post on X.

Russia said it had found 270 Russian troops and 120 civilians, some of which were occupied and held for months in some parts of the region. The two sides have not yet revealed the identity of the exchangers.

US President Donald Trump had earlier congratulated the two countries on exchange. “There may be something bigger than that?

Several Ukraine residents told AFP that they were eagerly awaiting whether their relatives had been included in the exchange. “We have been searching for our son for two years,” said Leadmela Parcmanco, the mother of a missing Ukrainian soldier during a fight in the city of Babhamut.

He said, “Today I want the Lord to tell us the good news … We feel in our hearts that he is alive.” 28 -year -old Anastasia Roda said she hoped her brother would come back. “He has been silent for eight months, we do not even know whether he is in prison or not, we hope that people will probably help us today,” he said.

After 39 months of fighting, thousands of POWS are held in both countries. Russia is believed to have a large part, which was estimated between 8,000 and 10,000, which is estimated between 8,000 and 10,000.

Kiev and Moscow have both accused each other of violating the Geneva Convention on Pews treatment. The United Nations said prisoners from both sides were “tortured and abusive”.

Shortly before the exchange, Kiev issued a statement alleging that the Russian army had hanged about 270 Ukrainian Pao since its attack. Russia regularly violates international principles by putting POWS at a regular trial, and allegations of violence are widespread, and several Ukrainian kidnappers have confirmed that they have been killed in custody.

It is believed that Moscow forces have taken an unidentified citizen of Ukrainian civilians in three years of occupying Ukrainian cities and cities. Artor Dobrosardov told Ukrainian media last month that the Commissioner for the missing persons, the Commissioner for the missing persons, nearly 10,000 Ukraine residents have been declared missing.

A senior official told AFP that Kiev does not know the fate of thousands, every exchange brings surprise. “Almost every exchange involves people who did not know,” he said.

“Sometimes they return to people who were on the list of missing persons or were considered dead.” A large number of Ukraine soldiers held in Russia were captured during the siege of Maripol in 2022. In addition to thousands of people since the Moscow invasion of 2022, Russia has also held some Ukrainian residents since being associated with Crimea in 2014.