Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Telegram channel

Russia and Ukraine each exchanged 95 prisoners of war on Wednesday in a deal mediated by the United Arab Emirates, the Russian Defence Ministry announced.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the exchange on Telegram, announcing that servicemen from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard, and border guards have returned to Ukraine as part of the deal.

Zelensky thanked the exchange team and the United Arab Emirates for facilitating the exchange. “No matter how difficult it is, we are looking for everyone who may be in captivity. We have to bring everyone back,” the Ukrainian president wrote.

The Russian Defence Ministry announced that the 95 Russian servicemen “who were in mortal danger in captivity” had been returned “from the territory controlled by the Kiev regime”. The ministry added that the soldiers would be flown to Moscow “for treatment and rehabilitation at the Ministry of Defence’s medical facilities”.

Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said on Wednesday that she had met with a representative of the Ukrainian ombudsman’s office to discuss “upcoming joint humanitarian actions, including those related to family reunification”.

The exchange is one in a series of deals mediated by the United Arab Emirates, the most recent being an exchange of 180 prisoners in June. This is the sixth exchange mediated by the UAE this year, totalling 1,400 prisoners swapped, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.