After just over a year of war, Ukraine and Russia exchanged more than 200 prisoners on Tuesday. The Ministry of Defense in Moscow informed about 90 Russian soldiers who will be flown from Ukraine to Moscow for medical treatment.
In Kiev, the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, reported that 130 compatriots had returned. Among them are 87 defenders of the port city of Mariupol, which has been occupied by Russia for nearly ten months, it said. Another 35 fighters were captured near Bakhmut and Soledar in eastern Ukraine.
“Just as we remember every occupied corner of our country, we remember every person in Russian captivity. We will make sure that they are all released,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly TV address on Tuesday night (see video above). ).
Since the beginning of Russia’s offensive war against the neighboring country more than a year ago, the two sides have repeatedly exchanged prisoners. According to Ukrainian human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets, a total of 1,993 Ukrainians have returned from Russian captivity. Moscow initially did not provide information on the total number of Russians released.
Moscow is determined to conquer Bakhmut
Meanwhile, the Russian leadership has announced that the battle, which has been raging for months, for the disputed city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, will continue unabated. “The liberation of Artemovsk (Russian name by Bakhmut, note) continues,” Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in Moscow on Tuesday. The 67-year-old justified the insistence on the costly offensive by taking the city and thoroughly breaking through the Ukrainian defense lines.
The Ukrainian leadership had previously rejected alleged plans to withdraw from the embattled city. Both sides report high casualties from the opposing war party.
Source: Krone
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