On June 11, Russia and Ukraine announced simultaneously the return of nearly 100 soldiers from each side.
Russia's Defense Ministry, in a posting on the Telegram messaging app, said 94 Russians in Ukrainian captivity had been released after negotiations and would be taken to a medical institution to be examined.
Both Ukraine and Russian authorities provided videos broadcasting the release of soldiers returning to their buses, showing the soldiers filled with emotion. Some of the soldiers embrace each other as they arrive in their territories, others called their families, and a few kissed the ground and their country's flag.
Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential administration, said 95 Ukrainian service members had been returned, including some wounded. They included members of the national guard and border guards.
Yermak further noted that those released had been in action near the city of Mariupol, under Russian siege for weeks last year, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, briefly held last year by Russian forces, from Serpent Island in the Black Sea and from Bakhmut, still a focal point of fighting in the east.
The soldiers are said to be treated in the ministry's medical facilities and undergo rehabilitation. Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners several times in the course of the 15-month war. Most recently, there was a major exchange of prisoners at the end of May, Anews reports.
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