Overview
- The two countries exchanged 193 prisoners each in a UAE-brokered swap announced Friday.
- Kyiv said many of the freed Ukrainians had been held in Chechnya and that some faced fabricated criminal cases.
- Ukraine added that the returnees include personnel from the army, National Guard, border guards, police and other services, with some wounded among them.
- Russia said its soldiers are undergoing medical checks in Belarus after the exchange and credited the UAE and the United States with humanitarian mediation.
- Officials called this the second phase of an Easter exchange after a 175-for-175 swap on April 11, and the UAE said it has now mediated 22 rounds totaling 6,691 people.