Russia and Ukraine Complete First Prisoner Swap Since Plane Crash
Amid tensions and distrust following the crash of a Russian transport plane last week — which Russia blamed on Ukraine and said had been carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) — both nations completed their first prisoner swap since the incident on Wednesday....
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Facts
- Amid tensions and distrust following the crash of a Russian transport plane last week — which Russia blamed on Ukraine and said had been carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) — both nations completed their first prisoner swap since the incident on Wednesday.1
- Russia's Defense Ministry said that each country returned 195 POWs. However, shortly thereafter, Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 207 Ukrainians were returned home. There was no explanation for the discrepancy and the true figure of how many prisoners were exchanged could not be independently confirmed.1
- The countries have routinely conducted prisoner exchanges throughout the conflict. However, the fate of future swaps had come into question following the plane's coming down in Russia's Belgorod region.2
- Commenting on the exchange after it was completed, Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin said: 'We will not stop the exchanges. We have to bring our own guys back home.'3
- Meanwhile, Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine's ombudsman for human rights, said on social media that it was the 50th exchange of its type, adding that 3,035 Ukrainians had now been repatriated.4
- Since then, Russia's Investigative Committee, which is probing how the plane went down, said on Thursday that it was able to establish that the plane was shot down by two US-made Patriot missiles, stating that a total of 116 fragments from the weapons were discovered near the scene. It listed a number of serial numbers said to be discovered on the fragments, alleging they are a match to the Raytheon-made weapons. The claims have not been independently verified at this stage.5
Sources: 1Associated Press, 2CBS, 3TASS (a), 4Facebook and 5TASS (b).
Narratives
- Pro-Ukraine narrative, as provided by Ukrainska Pravda. In this latest exchange, Ukraine was able to return 207 of its defenders home. Ukraine will always do everything in its power to ensure that those held in Russian captivity will be returned.
- Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by TASS. Despite Ukraine's illegal and terroristic actions in bringing down a Russian military plane, Moscow will continue conducting prisoner exchanges as it's important that its people are returned home. 195 prisoners were returned in the latest exchange.
