Russia and Ukraine announced a prisoner-of-war exchange on Thursday, with 45 soldiers from each side expected to return, Reuters reported. According to the human rights defender, most of the released Ukrainian soldiers are “severely wounded”.

The Ministry of Defense of Russia announced that 45 Russian servicemen were released from custody in Ukraine, reports the Russian agency RIA, citing news.ro.

In his turn, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, reported that 45 military personnel and two civilians were handed over to Ukraine.

In a post on Twitter, Yermak said some of those released fought in Mariupol and the Azovstal steel plant in the south of the city, while others fought on the front lines elsewhere. “Every one of them is a hero,” Yermak said.

Ukrainian human rights defender Dmytro Lubinet said that most of those released received “severe injuries” and all of them will enter a rehabilitation program.

In a separate publication, Yermak reported that the two children, aged six and ten, had been allowed to return to Ukraine after their mother, a military doctor, was released last October.

Russia and Ukraine regularly exchange prisoners of war.

Lubinets noted that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia in February 2022, 2,576 Ukrainians were released as a result of the exchange of prisoners.

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