Ukraine announced on Wednesday the exchange with Russia of 215 soldiers, including the defense chiefs of the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, which has become a symbol of resistance to the Russian invasion.
“We managed to free 215 people,” the biggest exchange since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February, the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Andriï Yermak, announced on television.
In exchange, Russia recovered 55 prisoners, including former deputy Viktor Medvedchuk, a close friend of Vladimir Putin, accused of high treason by kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily address.
As part of this “long-prepared operation”, five “superhero” military commanders, including the Azovstal defense chiefs, were transferred to Turkey, Zelensky added.
These people will remain in Turkey “in absolute security and in comfortable conditions” until “the end of the war”, but will be able to reunite with their families there, under the terms of an agreement with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Ten foreign prisoners of war (five British, two Americans, a Moroccan, a Swedish and a Croat) will be transferred from Russia to Saudi Arabia within the framework of the exchange between Moscow and kyiv, the Ukrainian president also announced.
The last Ukrainian defenders of Mariupol, entrenched in the Azovstal industrial complex, surrendered to Russian forces between May 16 and 20, after three months of intense fighting.
Source: TSF
