Russia and Ukraine exchange 50 POWs from either side

Russia and Ukraine have had another POW exchange, Andriy Yermak, head of Zelensky’s office, and Denis Pushilin, head of the so-called ‘DPR’, have announced.

“The men we gave to Ukraine today were mainly from the armed forces. Fifty of our fighters were liberated, seven from the DPR and two from the LPR,” Pushilin said.

Yermak says 52 individuals were liberated: “12 fighters of the National Guard, 18 navies, eight from the border guard, nine from the territorial defence, three from the Armed Forces, and two civilians,” he wrote.

Azovstal defenders are also returning home, Yermak says. “We’ve managed to exchange the head of the surgical department of the Mariupol military hospital who was at the Azovstal steelworks, a young military surgeon, a marine whose wife was recently released from captivity, a volunteer from Mariupol whose last name is Moskva [Moscow], and well as a sailor from the Snake Island. Several more servicemen captured in the Chernobyl zone are also returning home,” Yermak wrote.

Ukraine reported returning home 10 servicemen on 26 October. Russia also exchanged the dead body of Joshua Alan Jones, an American volunteer who was killed in action on 23 August. Russia’s side did not announce the exchange.

Another exchange happened on 17 October when 110 individuals, mostly women, returned to Ukraine. 110 Russian prisoners of war returned to Russia: 80 non-military sailors and 30 military personnel from the “DPR”, “LPR” and regions of the Russian Federation, Pushilin said.