Fifty-five Russian soldiers have returned to Russia as a result of the largest prisoner exchange carried out with Ukraine since the offensive in that former Soviet republic began, the Russian Defense Ministry announced Thursday.
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“All the military arrived on the territory of the Russian Federation on military aircraft and are in medical establishments of the ministry“, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
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One of the pro-Russian separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine confirmed on Thursday that a former Ukrainian deputy, close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was released as part of the prisoner exchange between kyiv and Moscow.
“Viktor Medvedchuk was released”Denis Pushilin told the Russian press agency Ria Novosti. Medvedchuk had been arrested in mid-April by the Ukrainian special services. The former deputy was accused of high treason.
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The Russian military subject to the prisoner exchange “were able to contact their relatives”, the Russian ministry said, adding that they were “receiving the necessary psychological and medical assistance”.
On Wednesday, the Ukrainian government had announced a major prisoner swap with Moscow, involving 215 Ukrainian military prisoners, including chiefs of the defense of the Azovstal iron and steel plant in Mariupol (southeast).
“The defenders” Maryana Mamonova, Yana Shumovetska and Anastasiya Chernenka, who had been captured while pregnant, were also released, according to the Ukrainian authorities.
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Ten other prisoners of various nationalities held by the Russians have been released and sent to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, where they have been accompanied by the head of the State Property Fund, Rustem Umerov.
Is about five citizens of Great Britain, two from the United States, one from Morocco, one from Sweden and one from Croatia.
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On Thursday, the Russian military again accused the Ukrainian government of “continuing its provocations” to “create a threat of catastrophe … at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant,” the largest in Europe.
“On Wednesday, the Ukrainian artillery fired 13 shells against the city of Energodar (where the plant is located) and the territory adjacent to the Zaporizhia NPP“, the Russian Defense Ministry said in the statement.
According to that source, “the radiological situation” at the site is, however, “normal.” For months, Russia and Ukraine have been accusing each other of attacking the Zaporizhia plant and its surroundings.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from AFP and EFE
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