The alternate comes amid diplomatic efforts to resolve the battle and a Ukrainian drone assault on Russia in a single day.
Russia and Ukraine have every exchanged 146 prisoners of warfare (POWs) after mediation by the United Arab Emirates, the Russian Ministry of Defence says concerning the newest in a sequence of exchanges that has seen a whole bunch of POWs launched this yr.
“On August 24, 146 Russian servicemen have been returned from the territory managed” by Kyiv, the ministry stated on Telegram on Sunday.
“In alternate, 146 prisoners of warfare of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been transferred” to Ukraine, it added.
The ministry stated the freed Russians have been in Belarus receiving psychological and medical care.
Giant-scale prisoner exchanges have been the one tangible results of three rounds of talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul from Might to July.
They continue to be one of many few areas of cooperation between the 2 international locations since Russia’s war on its neighbour started in 2022.
Russia additionally stated “eight residents of the Russian Federation – residents of the Kursk area, illegally detained” by Kyiv, have been additionally returned as a part of the alternate. Kursk sits on the border with Ukraine.
On Sunday, Russia additionally accused Ukraine of finishing up an in a single day drone assault on a nuclear plant that triggered a hearth and broken an auxiliary transformer.
The assault pressured a 50 p.c discount within the working capability at reactor quantity three on the Kursk Nuclear Energy Plant, 60km (38 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border, in accordance with Russian officers, who added that a number of energy and power amenities have been focused within the strikes.
US revokes permission
In the meantime, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated Washington has revoked permission for strikes in Russia with United States-manufactured weapons, confirming an earlier report in US media.
He added that Kyiv has currently been utilizing its personal weapons to hit its enemy and doesn’t seek the advice of on this with Washington.
Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov slammed Zelenskyy on Sunday for “obstinately insisting, setting circumstances, demanding a direct assembly in any respect prices” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The developments got here as Ukraine marked its Independence Day on Sunday, commemorating its 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.
The efforts to settle the battle have been ongoing since US President Donald Trump held talks in Alaska with Putin every week in the past, however Trump has been unable to this point to coax Putin into a gathering with Zelenskyy.
Trump stated on Friday that in two weeks he ought to know whether or not progress is feasible in his bid to finish the Russia-Ukraine warfare as he once more raised the prospect of imposing sanctions on Moscow.
