Ukraine and Russia carried out a new exchange of prisoners on Monday (April 10), as fighting continues to rage in the center of the city of Bakhmout. In total, kyiv managed to bring back around 100 soldiers, most of them soldiers who had taken part in the main battles since the start of the Russian invasion.
With our correspondent in kyiv, Stephane Siohan
Monday saw the first exchange of prisoners between belligerents for a month, as Russia’s winter offensive, which began in January, draws to a close, and the Ukrainian army prepares for counter operations. -spring attack.
The Ukrainian authorities have recovered 100 prisoners, 80 men and 20 women, all soldiers, and among them nine officers, fighters who had been taken prisoner in Bakhmout, but also earlier last year, in Hostomel, Mariupol, at the Zaporijjia nuclear power plant or at Serpents’ Island in the Black Sea.
Wounded and sick
According to the office of the Ukrainian president, the negotiations prior to this release were difficult, and several of the prisoners are in very poor health, injured, sick, some have also suffered acts of torture.
In exchange, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense delivered 106 prisoners to Russia, including the only Russian female fighter officially held on the Ukrainian side at that date. Soldiers who were in mortal danger “, reported the Russian Ministry of Defense in a press release.
The last prisoner exchange between Kyiv and Moscow was on March 7, when Ukraine recovered 130 of its servicemen and Russia 90. In total, since the start of the war, Kyiv has succeeded thanks to a contact group to make return to Ukraine about 1,500 of its captive soldiers.
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