Moscow and Kyiv swap prisoners of war as Ukraine marks Independence Day

Volodymyr Zelensky says ‘we are doing our best to get everyone back’

Released Ukrainian prisoners of war at an undisclosed location in Ukraine on Saturday (AP)

Russia and Ukraine have each exchanged more than 100 prisoners of war as Kyiv marked its third Independence Day since Moscow’s full-scale invasion.

Ukraine said the 115 Ukrainian servicemen who were freed were conscripts, many of whom were taken prisoner in the first months of Russia’s invasion.

Among them were nearly 50 soldiers captured by Russian forces from the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.

The Russian defence ministry said the released 115 Russian soldiers had been captured in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces launched their surprise offensive into Russia two weeks ago.

The ministry said the soldiers were currently in Belarus, but would be taken to Russia for medical treatment and rehabilitation.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on X that the United Arab Emirates had again brokered the exchange, the 55th since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.

Photographs attached to Mr Zelensky’s post show gaunt servicemen with shaven heads and wrapped in Ukrainian flags.

“We remember each and every one. We are searching and doing our best to get everyone back,” Mr Zelensky said in the post.

Many of the released Ukrainian prisoners were captured in the early months of the war (AP)

Officials from the two sides meet only when they swap their dead and prisoners of war, after lengthy preparation and diplomacy.

Neither Ukraine nor Russia discloses how many prisoners of war there are in total.

According to the UN, Ukrainian prisoners of war suffer routine medical neglect, severe and systematic mistreatment and even torture while in detention.

There have also been isolated reports of abuse of Russian soldiers, mostly during capture or transit to internment sites.

Last January, Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war in the biggest single release.

It came as Ukraine marked its 33rd Independence Day as its war against Russia’s aggression reaches a 30-month milestone.

No festivities were planned and instead Ukrainians marked the day with commemorations for civilians and soldiers killed in the war.

“Independence is the silence we experience when we lose our people,” President Zelenskyy said in a video posted on Telegram. “Independence descends into the shelter during an air raid, only to endure and rise again and again to tell the enemy: ‘You will achieve nothing.”’

He also announced that Ukraine has successfully used a new domestically produced drone for the first time against Russian forces.

“Today, we had the first and successful combat use of our new weapon, a completely new class of weapon, the Ukrainian missile drone ‘Palyanitsa,”’ Mr Zelensky said.

He did not give further details, but added that “the enemy was struck”, and thanked the developers and manufacturers.

Polish president Andrzej Duda arrived in Kyiv by train early on Saturday in a symbolic show of support from one of Ukraine’s key allies.

Videos posted by his office showed him being greeted by Ukrainian officials and later paying his respects in a ceremony at the Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen for Ukraine.

Mr Duda’s visit to Kyiv, his fifth since February 2022, sends a message that Warsaw’s support for Ukraine remains strong as the war drags on for the third year.

Poland, located to Ukraine’s west, has donated arms and become a hub for Western weapons destined for Ukraine.