Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Sunday the return of 303 Ukrainians who had been held captive by Russia, in the third and final step of the exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each side agreed upon just over a week ago in Istanbul, when the first direct contacts between the aggressor country and Ukraine took place in over three years.
PUBLICIDAD
According to Zelensky’s post on his Telegram account, “303 Ukrainian defenders are at home,” specifying that the released individuals are soldiers from the army, members of the National Guard, and special transport border service personnel of the Ukrainian State. “The third part of the exchange of 1,000 for 1,000 agreed upon in Turkey has been completed,” stated the Ukrainian head of state.
PUBLICIDAD
The third step of the exchange, the only concrete agreement reached in the talks held in Turkey, took place after 307 were released on Saturday and another 390 on Friday, thus completing the process of releasing 1,000 prisoners from each side as agreed in Istanbul. “Thanks to the team that worked tirelessly to successfully implement this,” Zelenski concluded his message on Telegram.
Russians who were freed are now in Belarus.
The invaders, on their part, pointed out through a statement from the Ministry of Defense that “according to the Russian-Ukrainian agreements concluded in Istanbul on May 16, the Russian and Ukrainian parties carried out an exchange between May 23 and 25 following the format of 1,000 people (exchanged) for 1,000 people.”
“On May 25th, 303 Russian soldiers were returned from the territory controlled by the (sic) Kiev regime. In exchange, 303 prisoners from the Ukrainian Armed Forces were handed over,” Defense stated. Currently, the Russian military personnel are in Belarus, where they are receiving the necessary psychological and medical assistance, the statement adds.
All released military personnel will be transferred to the Russian Federation to receive medical treatment and rehabilitation in hospitals of the Ministry of Defense.