130 Ukrainian prisoners of war were released and returned home in a “big Easter exchange,” a senior Ukrainian presidential official said on Easter Sunday.

Ukrainian and Russian troops have regularly exchanged prisoners since the beginning of Moscow’s offensive, which has been going on for 14 months.

“We are returning 130 of our people. (The exchange) has taken place in several stages over the past few days,” Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to President Volodymyr Zelensky, said in a Telegram post. It is not clear how many Russians have returned to their homeland.

Mr Germak said the repatriated included soldiers, border guards, members of the National Guard, sailors and border guards.

The head of Wagner’s Russian mercenary company, Yevgeny Prigozhin, posted a video on Sunday in which he allegedly gave orders for the safe transfer of nearly 100 Ukrainian prisoners, with a Russian soldier telling the Ukrainians: “Go away, and I hope you don’t fall into our hands again.”

It was the second major prisoner exchange in the past week. On Monday, Russia and Ukraine announced a major prisoner exchange that resulted in the release of 106 Russians and 100 Ukrainians. Ukraine announced on Friday that it had returned 82 dead soldiers from territory under Russian control.

Source: APE-MPE, Reuters.