“We managed to free 215 people,” said the head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, Andriy Yermak, on Wednesday evening. Ukraine and Russia conducted an exchange of military prisoners, the largest since the offensive began in late February. An announcement that comes after Vladimir Putin mobilized hundreds of thousands of reservists to restart his offensive in Ukraine.
In particular, Kyiv recovered 188 “heroes” who defended the Azovstal Steelworks in Mariupol, a symbol of resistance to the Russian invasion, and this southern city. Five military commanders, including defense chiefs from Azovstal, have been transferred to Turkey, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
They will remain in that country “in absolute safety and comfortable conditions until the end of the war” under an agreement with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to the Ukrainian leader.
An exchange that does not mean the end of the war
Russia has recovered 55 prisoners, including former MP Viktor Medvedchuk, a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin who is accused of treason in Ukraine, Zelenskyy said in his daily address. Ten prisoners of war, including five British and two Americans, whose transfer from Russia to Saudi Arabia had been announced by Saudi diplomacy earlier in the day as part of an exchange between Moscow and Ukraine, are part of that exchange, he noted.
But this exchange is by no means a step towards the end of the war, as Vladimir Putin has called for the mobilization of all the country’s reservists to help the army in the fighting that has started since February.