“We have managed to free 215 people,” Ukrainian presidential administration chief Andriy Yermak said on Wednesday evening. Ukraine and Russia carried out an exchange of military prisoners, the largest since the start of the offensive in late February. An announcement that comes after Vladimir Putin mobilized hundreds of thousands of reservists to relaunch his offensive in Ukraine.
kyiv notably recovered 188 “heroes” who defended the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, a symbol of resistance to the Russian invasion, and this southern city. Five military commanders, including defense chiefs from Azovstal, have been transferred to Turkey, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
They will remain in this country “in absolute security and in comfortable conditions until the end of the war” under the terms of an agreement with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to the Ukrainian head of state.
An exchange that does not sign the end of the war
Russia has recovered 55 prisoners including former MP Viktor Medvedchuk, a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, accused of high treason in Ukraine, said Mr. Zelensky in his daily address. Ten prisoners of war, including five British and two Americans, whose transfer from Russia to Saudi Arabia earlier in the day as part of an exchange between Moscow and Ukraine had been announced by Saudi diplomacy, are part of this exchange, he noted.
But this exchange is in no way a step towards the end of the war since Vladimir Putin called for the mobilization of all the reservists of the country to come to the aid of the army, in the fighting already started since February.
