Ukraine and Russia carried out a new exchange of prisoners of war on Monday, with both sides bringing home a total of more than 300 former prisoners.
Kyiv brought home 189 former prisoners, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russia’s Defense Ministry said, while the Russian ministry said 150 Russian servicemen were returning home.
The Russian ministry said the captives had been freed in Belarus, Moscow’s close ally in the 34-month war with Ukraine, and would be transferred to Russia.
Footage from Reuters television in Ukraine showed expectant spouses and several servicemen, many draped in blue and yellow national flags, weeping openly as they were reunited long after dark outside a building.
Ukrainian prisoners of war were reunited with their families in an emotional scene on Monday after being freed in a major swap between their country and Russia. An ex-prisoner said his five-year-old son would likely not recognize him as he last saw him when he was two.
A child’s disbelieving voice rang out on a cell phone, “Dad, is that you?”
“My son is five years old now, the last time I saw him he was two years old,” said Serhii, who was captured by Russian forces at the Azovstal steel plant in the southern port of Mariupol, which has withstood a siege for nearly three months. in the year 2022.
“That’s why my son probably didn’t recognize me. I had a beard and hair. I lost 20 kg.”
For some ex-captives, returning to freedom involved adjustment.
“Even now I’m holding my hands behind my back, I’m used to it,” said Roman Borshch, 29. “Now I have to learn to be a free person again.”
Video posted by the Russian Defense Ministry showed smiling soldiers on a bus, some calling their families.
“We’ll be home soon. How are the kids? How’s our son?” said a man.
“I’m overcome with emotion,” said another. “I still can’t believe that this happened, that I returned home, that the ministry made such efforts, that we are remembered and appreciated.”
Zelenskyy thanked the United Arab Emirates and other partners for facilitating the exchange. The United Arab Emirates admitted it had helped arrange the exchange.
“The return of our people from Russian captivity is always very good news for each of us. And today is one of those days: our team managed to bring 189 Ukrainians home,” Zelenskyy said on the Telegram messaging app.
There was no immediate explanation why more Ukrainians than Russians were listed as freed; freed Ukrainians included civilians who had been in Russian captivity.
Zelenskyy said the returned Ukrainians included soldiers, sergeants and officers from various frontline areas, as well as two civilians who had been captured in the southern port of Mariupol.
Fenced steel mill
Denys Prokopenko, commander of the 12th Azov Special Forces Brigade that defended the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol before it was captured by Russian forces, said 11 of his men were among those who returned. Prokopenko had been brought home in an earlier exchange.
The Ukrainian body that oversees Ukrainian exchanges said it was the 59th exchange between the two sides since the invasion of Russia in February 2022. It brought the number of Ukrainian prisoners returned home to 3,956.
He said those brought home this year included Ukrainian nationals serving what he described as “so-called sentences” imposed by Russian courts for various offences.
In the last exchange in October, also carried out with the help of the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Ukraine each brought 95 prisoners.
US announces additional aid to Ukraine
The prisoner exchange came as the United States announced on Monday nearly $6 billion in additional military and budget aid to Ukraine, as President Joe Biden uses his final weeks in office to increase aid to Kiev before President-elect Donald Trump take power
Biden announced $2.5 billion in additional security assistance to Ukraine.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the United States has made $3.4 billion in additional budget aid available to Ukraine, giving the war-torn country critical resources amid intensifying Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure.
US President Joe Biden announced nearly $6 billion in additional military and budget aid to Ukraine, including about $2.5 billion in security assistance for the war-torn country. With Biden’s term ending in just a few weeks, the 82-year-old is using his final days in office to boost aid to Kiev before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
“Under my leadership, the United States will continue to work tirelessly to strengthen Ukraine’s position in this war for the remainder of my time in office,” Biden said in a statement.
Biden’s announcement includes $1.25 billion in military aid taken from US stocks and a $1.22 billion Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) package, the final USAI package during Biden’s time in office.
Biden said the new aid would provide Ukraine with “an immediate influx of capabilities that it continues to use to great effect on the battlefield and long-term supplies of air defense, artillery and other critical weapons systems.”
Nearly three years after the war, Washington has provided billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, but it is uncertain whether aid will continue at that pace under Trump, who succeeds Biden on January 20.
