ALBAWABA - Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war (POWs)on Wednesday, less than a week after Moscow claimed Kyiv shot down a plane carrying dozens of captured Ukrainian soldiers.
Russia's defense ministry said 195 of its soldiers were released, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said 207 people, including soldiers and civilians, had returned to Ukraine.
"Our people are back. There are 207 of them. "We return them home no matter what," Zelensky wrote on social media.
On January 24, Moscow claimed that 65 Ukrainian POWs being transported to a scheduled exchange were killed and that the planes were shot down by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Russian MP Andrey Kartapolov stated that two planes were carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war (POW) and that Moscow needed to urgently divert the second IL-76, which was carrying 80 captured troops, out of the danger zone.
Ukraine has not denied Moscow's claims, however, it has questioned whether the captured Ukrainian soldiers were actually on board and has requested that Moscow publish photos of their bodies or provide other evidence to back up its claims.
