Sawt Falasteen - Russia, Ukraine swap 193 POWs

The two countries have exchanged thousands of POWs throughout the four-year war -- with the swaps often the only result of otherwise stalled talks on ending the conflict.

"193 Ukrainian warriors are returning home as part of a prisoner exchange," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media.

"We remember each and every one and continue working every day to bring our people home from Russian captivity," he added.

AFP journalists at the scene of the swap in northern Ukraine saw dozens of exchanged Ukrainians pour off busses looking pale but relieved after long stints in Russian detention.

They wrapped themselves in blue and yellow flags, embraced each other, or cried on the phone to loved ones.

A representative of Kyiv's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War told AFP that most of the released military personnel had been held in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya, and that many months of negotiations were needed to secure their release.

The official, Petro Yatsenko, said that two of the exchanged Ukrainian prisoners were celebrating their birthday Friday.

The youngest in the group of freed Ukrainians was 24 and the eldest was 60.

The Russian defence ministry also confirmed the swap had taken place, adding that its troops were undergoing medical checks in Belarus, a Moscow-allied country bordering Ukraine.

"The United Arab Emirates and the United States provided humanitarian mediation efforts to facilitate the return of the Russian servicemen from captivity," Russia said.

US-led talks aimed at ending the four-year conflict were already stalled before the war in the Middle East effectively put them on ice.

X.Habash--SF-PST