{"id":120858,"date":"2024-12-31T08:31:36","date_gmt":"2024-12-31T08:31:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-russia-war-latest-moscow-and-kyiv-swap-at-least-300-prisoners-of-war-the-independent\/"},"modified":"2024-12-31T08:31:36","modified_gmt":"2024-12-31T08:31:36","slug":"ukraine-russia-war-latest-moscow-and-kyiv-swap-at-least-300-prisoners-of-war-the-independent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-russia-war-latest-moscow-and-kyiv-swap-at-least-300-prisoners-of-war-the-independent\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine-Russia war latest: Moscow and Kyiv swap at least 300 prisoners of war – The Independent"},"content":{"rendered":"

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.
Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in<\/span>Please refresh your browser to be logged in<\/span>
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the return of 189 POWs as \u2018very good news\u2019
Independent Premium
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Ukraine<\/a>\u00a0and Russia<\/a> carried out a new exchange of prisoners of war<\/a> on Monday, with Kyiv<\/a> bringing home 189 former captives.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a> thanked the United Arab Emirates and other partners for facilitating the swap.
\u201cThe return of our people from Russian captivity is always very good news for each of us. And today is one of such days: our team managed to bring 189 Ukrainians home,\u201d Mr Zelensky said.
Russia\u2019s defence ministry said that 150 Russian soldiers were freed from captivity as part of the exchange in which each side released 150 people.
Meanwhile, the Biden<\/a> administration has announced almost $6bn in military and budget aid for Ukraine before president-elect Donald Trump takes office next month.
\u201cI\u2019ve directed my administration to continue surging as much assistance to Ukraine as quickly as possible,\u201d Mr Biden said in a statement.
\u201cAt my direction, the United States will continue to work relentlessly to strengthen Ukraine\u2019s position in this war over the remainder of my time in office.\u201d
Ukrainian families sobbed as they reunited with loved ones in a prisoner of war (POW) swap<\/a> with Russia<\/a> on Monday, 30 December.
Among them were soldiers captured by Russia<\/a> from the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol<\/a>, Snake island and other parts of the front line, as well as two civilians.
Volodymyr Zelensky said the two countries exchanged 189 prisoners of war<\/a> each in an exchange mediated by the United Arab Emirates.
Read the full article here<\/em><\/strong><\/a>
China\u2019s president Xi Jinping said China and Russia have always moved forward \u201chand in hand\u201d along the right path of non-alliance, non-confrontation, and not targeting any third party, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua said on Tuesday.
In an exchange of New Year greetings with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Mr Xi also said that mutual trust and strategic coordination between both countries continues to reach higher levels under their leadership.
—Reuters<\/em>
If the last 25 years have taught us anything, it is exactly who the Russian president is \u2013 and what he is capable of:
Editorial: If the last 25 years have taught us anything, it is exactly who the Russian president is \u2013 and what he is capable of
Russia<\/a> and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war in the latest such swap that saw the release of hundreds of captives and was brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates, officials said Monday.
Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 189 Ukrainian prisoners, including military personnel, border guards and national guards \u2014 along with two civilians \u2014 were freed. He thanked the UAE for helping negotiate the exchange.
Russia\u2019s Defense Ministry said that 150 Russian soldiers were freed from captivity as part of the exchange in which each side released 150 people.
Read more here:
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war in the latest such swap that released hundreds of captives and was brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates
— AP
Explosions were heard in Kyiv, Ukraine, during an air raid alert on Tuesday, according to a Reuters <\/em>witness.
Crisis has aided the Russian strongman\u2019s regime stability far more than any index of economic success, writes Mark Almond
When Boris Yeltsin suddenly resigned as Russia<\/a>\u2019s first post-communist president on New Year\u2019s Eve, 1999, his country seemed to be spiralling downhill into economic and political disintegration. Few gave his largely unknown successor as acting president much chance <\/a>of reversing the economic implosion or remaining in office for long.
The then prime minister Vladimir Putin<\/a>\u2019s media operation had already begun to portray the ex-KGB operative in stark contrast to the moribund Yeltsin as an action man<\/a>. That same year the second Chechen war on the country\u2019s southern border raged. Twenty-five years later, Vladimir Putin is still in the Kremlin but Russia is again in the grip of war on its post-Soviet periphery after last week\u2019s downing of an airliner over Chechen airspace<\/a>.
Add to the tension that Putin\u2019s Russia has been engaged in a covert war against Ukraine<\/a> since 2014, which he had turned into a full-scale invasion by early 2022 \u2013 a conflict that remains at an impasse today. As with his earlier war against Chechnya<\/a>, Putin\u2019s obduracy turned an opening military fiasco into a brutal war of attrition which Russia\u2019s resources could win at a huge price.
But Putin\u2019s rise over the years owed more to bureaucratic infighting skills than any dark espionage arts, or even the judo skills which he would at one time display<\/a> in front of loyal cameras.
Born in post-war Leningrad amid the grim legacy of the Nazi siege, the young Vladimir Putin learnt survival arts more appropriate to the chaotic post-Soviet dog-eat-dog society of the 1990s than the shining utopian future promoted by communist propaganda.
Read the full piece by Mark Almond here:
Crisis has aided the Russian strongman\u2019s regime stability far more than any index of economic success, writes Mark Almond
Russia\u2019s state-owned energy giant Gazprom says it will halt gas supplies to Moldova starting on Jan. 1, citing alleged unpaid debt by the east European country
An oil depot in Russia\u2019s Smolensk region reportedly caught fire following a drone attack overnight on 31 December, according to regional authorities.
\u201cA Ukrainian drone attack targeted a fuel and energy facility, resulting in fires,\u201d the head of the Yartsevo district, Roman Zakharov, wrote on his Telegram channel.
The claims could not be verified independently.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says he will implement the \u201ctoughest\u201d anti-U.S. policy, less than a month before Donald Trump takes office as U.S. president
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in<\/span>Please refresh your browser to be logged in<\/span><\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged inUkrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the return of 189 POWs as \u2018very good news\u2019 Independent PremiumWant to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":120859,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-120858","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}