Ukraine and Russia have exchanged 195 prisoners of war each, Russia’s defence ministry has said.
The swap happened on Wednesday, it added.
It comes a week after Russia accused Ukrainian forces of shooting down a military transport plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war who were going to be swapped for Russian counterparts.
Missiles fired from across the border brought down the plane in Russia’s Belgorod region on January 24, the defence ministry said.
The crash killed all 74 people onboard, including six crew members and three Russian servicemen, local authorities in Belgorod, which borders Ukraine, said.
Moscow said 65 Ukrainian prisoners were on the plane.
Our people are back. 207 of them. We return them home no matter what.
We remember each Ukrainian in captivity. Both warriors and civilians. We must bring all of them back. We are working on it.
The Ukrainian team has done another excellent job. Budanov, Yermak, Usov, Maliuk,… pic.twitter.com/ZNNdTz3mKO— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 31, 2024
The incident also led some Russian officials to publicly question the possibility of future prisoner swaps.
Ukrainian officials confirmed last week that a prisoner swap was due to happen that day but said it had been called off.
It said it has seen no evidence the plane was carrying prisoners.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said 207 Ukrainians were freed in Wednesday’s exchange.
There was no immediate explanation for the different figures.
“We remember each Ukrainian in captivity. Both warriors and civilians. We must bring all of them back. We are working on it,” Mr Zelensky wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Among the Ukrainians released are members of the armed forces, national guard, border service and national police, said Andrii Yermak, head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office.
He said some of them were captured while defending Mariupol, Azovstal and Snake Island.
The Russian military said, without providing details or evidence, that the Russian prisoners of war “faced deadly danger in captivity” and will be flown to Moscow for treatment and rehabilitation.
