Russia and Ukraine carried out their fourth prisoner swap in every week, the Russian protection ministry stated Saturday, and Russia handed over the our bodies of 1,200 useless Ukrainian troopers to Kyiv.
“We continue to take our people out of Russian captivity. This is the fourth exchange in a week,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on social media.
“In accordance with the Russian-Ukrainian agreements… another group of Russian servicemen was returned from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime,” Russia’s protection ministry stated on Telegram.
Kyiv additionally stated it had acquired one other batch of 1,200 unidentified our bodies from Russia, which it stated Russia claimed “belong to Ukrainian citizens, including military personnel,” as a part of the Istanbul agreements as nicely.
Ukraine didn’t say whether or not it returned any our bodies to Russia.
Photos printed by Zelenskyy on Telegram confirmed males of varied ages, largely with shaved heads, sporting camouflage and draped in Ukrainian flags.
Some had been injured, others disembarked from buses and hugged these welcoming them, or had been seen calling somebody by cellphone, typically masking their faces or smiling.
Moscow’s protection ministry launched its personal video displaying males in uniforms holding Russian flags, clapping and chanting “Russia, Russia”, “glory to Russia” and “hooray”, some elevating their fists within the air.
The alternate got here as Russia repeatedly rejected ceasefire calls and intensified its offensive alongside the entrance line, and particularly within the northeastern Sumy area, the place it seeks to determine a “buffer zone” to guard its Kursk area, beforehand partly occupied by Ukraine.
Zelenskyy claimed Russia’s advance on Sumy was stopped, including that Kyiv’s forces have managed to retake one village.
According to the Ukrainian president, Russia was utilizing 53,000 males within the Sumy operation.
Source: www.dailysabah.com