Rare positive news has come out of the Ukraine war on Tuesday, the last day of 2024. Russia and Ukraine have exchanged hundreds of prisoners in a deal brokered the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Russia's defense ministry has confirmed it swapped 150 Ukrainian POWs for the same number of Russian troops. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy has said that 189 Ukrainians had returned home as a result. It's unclear why there is a discrepancy in the numbers.
"The return of our people from Russian captivity is always very good news for each of us. And today is one of such days: our team managed to bring 189 Ukrainians home," Zelensky announced on Telegram.
Among the released included "defenders of Azovstal and Mariupol" - according to his words. Zelensky has vowed to "continue working to free every single person from Russian captivity.
"This is our goal, and we will not forget anyone. I thank the team that is doing everything to bring our people home," he continued.
On the Russian side, a video posted the country's human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova featured freed soldiers receiving care and aid.
"Very soon our guys will hug their families and friends and celebrate the New Year on their native land," she said.
According to one summary of the number of successful prisoner exchanges since the war's start, and after nearly three years:
There have been 60 different prisoner exchanges since the war began in February 2022. The last exchange took place in mid-October when the two countries swapped 95 POWs each.
Ukraine said on Monday that Moscow had released a total of 3,956 people – soldiers and civilians – in deals with Kyiv since the start of the conflict. Zelenskyy promised to continue pushing for the remaining POWs to be freed.
This new large-scale swap also confirms that both sides are at least keeping up negotiations or some level of communications indirectly, via third party mediating countries. Zelensky has consistently refused to enter any negotiations which would result in Ukraine ceding territory; however, Ukraine is having a severe manpower and ammo shortage crisis.
Because of this, most analysts see an eventual negotiated settlement as inevitable. But Kiev wants better leverage, and is still holding out hopes of receiving more defense funding and advanced weaponry from the West via Biden's ongoing 'surge' before Trump takes office.