Ukraine-Russia war latest: Moscow and Kyiv exchange hundreds of prisoners as Putin’s forces suffer big losses
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the return of 189 POWs as ‘very good news’
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Your support makes all the difference.Ukraine and Russia carried out a new exchange of prisoners of war on Monday, with Kyiv bringing home 189 former captives.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the United Arab Emirates and other partners for facilitating the swap.
“The return of our people from Russian captivity is always very good news for each of us. And today is one of such days: our team managed to bring 189 Ukrainians home,” Mr Zelensky said.
It comes as Kyiv’s military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi has claimed that Russian forces are “suffering record losses” in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk.
Vladimir Putin’s troops are attacking along multiple points of the frontline in Donetsk, ultimately advancing towards the city of Pokrovsk, a linchpin of the wider region’s defences. They have taken more than 400 square miles of territory since February this year in that area.
But their advances have come at a severe loss in personnel. “The enemy continues to carry out continuous meaty assaults, suffering record losses,” says Gen. Syrskyi.
Western intelligence estimates suggest that the Russian military’s daily casualties in the area number between 1,000 and 1,2000.
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Russia and Ukraine conducted a prisoner swap on Monday, with each side freeing 150 prisoners of war, Russia’s Defence Ministry said in a statement.
It said that the Russian captives had been released on Belarusian territory and would be transferred to Russia. The United Arab Emirates had served as a mediator in the swap, the statement added.
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