Russia and Ukraine each released 205 captured soldiers, both sides said on Tuesday, May 6, in the fifth prisoner-of-war exchange since the beginning of the year. The warring countries have held many rounds of POW exchanges throughout Moscow's more-than-three-year invasion.
"Today, Ukraine has returned 205 soldiers. Young boys and men from almost all types and branches of the armed forces," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media. He said they included troops who defended Mariupol, which fell at the start of Moscow's invasion in 2022, in one of the most brutal battles of the war.
Russia also reported the exchange. "As a result of negotiations, 205 Russian servicemen were returned," the Russian army said in a statement. "In exchange, 205 prisoners of war of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were handed over," it added. The United Arab Emirates brokered the exchange, Moscow said, adding that its soldiers were currently in Belarus undergoing medical and psychological check-ups.
The swap comes as talks by the US with both sides separately to end the war appear to have stalled and as Moscow gears up for its massive May 9 parade to mark 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany. The two sides have swapped captured soldiers since Moscow launched its Ukraine offensive in February 2022.