Russia and Ukraine exchange 270 people each in UAE-mediated deal

Russia and Ukraine exchanged 270 people each on 23 October, according to the United Arab Emirates, which said it helped broker the deal. Ukraine’s prisoner-of-war coordination headquarters said its 270 returnees included 261 service personnel and nine civilians. The civilians were part of the 270, rather than additional to it.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Ukrainians were home. The coordination headquarters said 221 of them had been captured or gone missing around Mariupol, and that five of those released had survived the deadly 2022 incident at Olenivka prison.

The headquarters thanked both the UAE and the United States for their help. The UAE foreign ministry described this as its 27th successful mediation between the two countries. On the Russian side, the defence ministry said its freed service personnel were in Belarus when Reuters reported the exchange and would travel to Russia after receiving medical and psychological care.