540 prisoners were exchanged between Moscow and Kiev amid faltering settlement

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Russia and Ukraine announced the exchange of 540 prisoners of war, with 270 soldiers from each side, in the latest exchange between the two countries since the outbreak of war, despite the continuation of military confrontations and faltering efforts to reach a comprehensive settlement.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said, on Friday, that 270 Russian soldiers were released by Ukrainian captivity, in exchange for the handover of 270 prisoners of war from the Ukrainian armed forces, according to what was reported by the Russian “Interfax” agency.

The ministry added that the returned Russian soldiers are currently in Belarus, where they are receiving the necessary psychological and medical assistance, under the supervision of the Russian Human Rights Commissioner Yana Lantratova, before they are transferred to Russia to complete treatment and rehabilitation in medical facilities affiliated with the Ministry of Defense.

The Russian announcement did not include additional details regarding the circumstances of the exchange, while the aforementioned reports did not provide independent details about the conditions of the Ukrainian prisoners who were returned to their country.

Prisoner exchanges are one of the limited channels of humanitarian communication that have remained between Moscow and Kiev since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war in February 2022, as the two sides continued to conclude agreements to return detained military personnel, despite disagreements over the terms for ending the war.

The two countries exchanged 103 soldiers from each side on August 19, and the Russian soldiers were then transferred to Belarus to receive medical and psychological care before their return to Russia.

The new exchange comes one day after a separate exchange of bodies of soldiers killed during the war. On October 22, Ukraine announced that it had received the bodies of 252 of its soldiers, in exchange for returning 25 bodies to Russia, in an operation that took place at the Novaya Gota border point in Belarus.

Although these humanitarian arrangements continue, prisoner exchanges in and of themselves do not signify progress in broader political or military negotiations, which still face fundamental disagreements between Moscow and Kiev over ending the war.