Ukraine says 200 prisoners of war swapped for one man, a Putin ally
- Russia and Ukraine have carried out an unexpected prisoner swap, the largest since the war began
- Dozens of fighters captured in Mariupol were exchanged for pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk
Ukraine announced a high-profile prisoner swap early Thursday that culminated months of efforts to free many of the Ukrainian fighters who defended a steel plant in Mariupol during a long Russian siege.
In exchange, Ukraine gave up an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said his government had won freedom from Russian custody for 215 Ukrainian and foreign citizens. He said many were soldiers and officers who had faced the death penalty in Russian-occupied territory.
Russia officials didn’t immediately confirm or otherwise comment on the swap.
The 68-year-old oligarch escaped from house arrest in Ukraine several days before Russia’s invasion February 24 but was recaptured in April.
He faced up to life in prison on charges of treason and aiding and abetting a terrorist organisation for mediating coal purchases for the separatist, Russia-backed Donetsk republic in eastern Ukraine.
Putin is believed to be the godfather of Medvedchuk’s youngest daughter. His detention sparked a heated exchange between officials in Moscow and Kyiv.
Medvedchuk is the head of the political council of Ukraine’s pro-Russian Opposition Platform-For Life party, the largest opposition group in Ukraine’s parliament. The government has suspended the party’s activity.
“It is not a pity to give up Medvedchuk for real warriors,” Zelensky said in a post on his website. “He has passed all the investigative actions provided by law. Ukraine has received from him everything necessary to establish the truth in the framework of criminal proceedings.”
In another swap, Ukraine gained the release of five more citizens in exchange for 55 Russian prisoners it was holding, Zelensky said.
According to Zelensky, many of those freed belonged to Ukraine’s Azov regiment, whom he called heroes.
More than 2,000 defenders, many in the Azov unit, marched out of the Azovstal steel plant’s twisted wreckage into Russian captivity in mid-May, ending a nearly three-month siege of the port city of Mariupol.
Five of the released Azov commanders are now living in Türkiye, according to a post on Zelensky’s website.
The freed prisoners included US citizens Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Huynh, 27, both from Alabama, who were captured in June while fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Also freed were Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner and Moroccan Brahim Saadoun, who were all sentenced to death by a court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
Large numbers of foreigners have travelled to Ukraine to fight since Russia’s invasion.
Additional reporting by Reuters
