Ukraine war: Moscow, Kyiv exchange hundreds of POWs, a week after a military plane crashed carrying Ukrainian soldiers

Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war, just a week after Moscow said Kyiv shot down a plane carrying dozens of captured Ukrainian soldiers

Kyiv has disputed Moscow’s claim and instead blamed Russia for trying to use the incident to hurt Ukrainian morale

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Ukrainian prisoners of war react after a prisoner exchange at an undisclosed location. Russia and Ukraine exchanged about 200 prisoners of war each, the countries said on Wednesday. Photo: X/Volodymyr Zelensky via AP

Published: 10:29pm, 31 Jan 2024Updated: 1:46am, 1 Feb 2024

Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war on Wednesday, just a week after Moscow said Kyiv had shot down a plane carrying dozens of captured Ukrainian soldiers.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said 207 people – both soldiers and civilians – had returned to Ukraine.

“Our people are back. 207 of them. We return them home no matter what,” Zelensky said in a social media post, claiming it was one of the biggest swaps so far.

Russia’s defence ministry said close to 200 of its soldiers were freed.

An investigator walks in a field where a Russian military transport plane crashed in the Belgorod region of Russia. Photo: Russian Investigative Committee via AP

“On January 31, as a result of the negotiation process, 195 Russian servicemen who were in mortal danger in captivity were returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime. In return, exactly 195 prisoners from the armed forces of Ukraine were handed over,” the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.