According to the Russian TV today (RT) website on the 17th, the Russian Ministry of Defense said on Monday local time that Russia and Ukraine had conducted a large-scale prisoner exchange. On the same day, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense also confirmed that it had "another large-scale" exchange of detainees with Russia, and also said that the released Ukrainian women include civilians.
Russian RT website report screenshot
Report said that the Russian Ministry of Defense issued a statement saying that Ukraine released 110 Russians, including 72 civilians, who have been detained in Ukraine since February 2022. In exchange, Russia released 108 Ukrainian female soldiers. Two Ukrainian women who were arranged to exchange rejected the offer and said they would like to stay in Russia. The Russian Ministry of Defense also said in a statement that all returnees will receive all necessary medical and psychological assistance.
Russians released in this exchange Photo source: Russian Satellite News Agency
Also on Monday, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense posted photos of 108 Ukrainian women released on its Twitter account, claiming that these people include civilians, volunteers, etc.
Ukrainian Ministry of Defense posted photos of 108 Ukrainian women released on Twitter
RT reported that Kiev had previously detained dozens of Russian civilians. When Russia launched a special military operation against Ukraine at the end of February this year, the ships they were on were docked at the Ukrainian port, some of whom were released after Russian troops controlled the port city of Mariupol, but many others have been detained by Ukraine.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said that the Russian Federation's human rights representative Tatyana Moskalikova directly participated in the promotion of this "capital replacement". She said last week that 65 crew members may be released soon and negotiations on the release of them have entered their final stages.
According to Russian and Ukrainian officials, Russia and Ukraine also held a detainee exchange on October 13. Ukraine released 20 Russian soldiers, and Russia also released 20 Ukrainian soldiers. Since the outbreak of the conflict, Russia and Ukraine have conducted multiple exchanges of detainees.
RT said that the last time Russia and Ukraine exchanged detainees on the scale was in late September, when 55 Russian soldiers were released, including soldiers from Donbas , and Kiev also released Ukrainian opposition leader Medvedecuk. Ukrainian President Zelensky said at the time that in exchange, 215 Ukrainian soldiers were released, including more than 100 members of the "Azov Battalion". (Editor: HHJ)
