October 17, 2022, 14:13 PM
October 17, 2022, 14:13 PM
More than 100 women, many of them military, were released by Ukraine in a new prisoner exchange with Russiaannounced on Monday an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency.
“Another large-scale prisoner of war exchange took place today… we freed 108 women in captivity. It is the first women-only exchange,” Ukrainian chief of staff Andriy Yermak said on Telegram.
Among those released there was a majority of officers, soldiers and sergeants and also, evacuated from the Azovstal steelworks, in the city of Mariupol (southeast), besieged by Russian forces at the beginning of the conflict.
The official said that a certain number of these released women had been detained by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine since 2019 for their “pro-Ukrainian” positions.
One of the pro-Russian separatist leaders, Denis Puchilin, confirmed the exchange stating that Russia had recovered 110 people detained by the Ukrainians.
On the side that had to return to Ukraine, “two women (…) decided to stay in Russia,” he said.
Russia and Ukraine have carried out multiple prisoner swaps since the start of the war in February.
