© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian President’s office chief Andriy Yermak attends a news conference amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kiev, Ukraine, September 22, 2022. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/Photo by archive
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia and Ukraine exchanged 101 prisoners of war in their latest prisoner exchange on Thursday, officials said.
“Planes of the military transport aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces will take the released servicemen to Moscow for treatment and rehabilitation in medical institutions of the Russian Defense Ministry,” the Russian ministry said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff posted images of dozens of Ukrainian servicemen posing for a photograph after being released.
He said that 100 soldiers and one civilian had been returned.
Almost all of them had been defending the besieged southern city of Mariupol before it fell to Russian forces, Andriy Yermak said on Telegram.
Earlier this month, Zelenskiy said that since the start of the conflict last February, Ukraine had secured the release of 1,762 men and women from Russian captivity.