218 freed in Moscow-Kyiv prisoner swap

KYIV — Moscow and Kyiv on Monday carried out one of the biggest prisoner swaps of the conflict so far, exchanging a total of 218 detainees, officials from both sides said.

The Russian defense ministry said 72 people that returned from Ukraine were crew members of civilian ships held by Ukraine since February.

It said all those returned would be flown to Moscow and will be provided with medical and psychological assistance.

Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president's staff, said some of the Ukrainians had been captured after Russian forces took the giant Azovstal steelworks in the port city of Mariupol in May.

In his daily address late on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said 96 of the swapped prisoners are servicewomen, including 37 evacuees from Azovstal, and 12 are civilians.

Separately, Ukraine's interior ministry said some of the Ukrainians had been in jail since 2019 after being detained by authorities in eastern regions.

Denis Pushilin, head of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, confirmed the exchange, saying that out of 110 people agreed in the swap, two people had decided to remain in Russia.

Meanwhile, the fight between the two countries continued on Tuesday. Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential office, said there had been three Russian strikes on an unspecified energy facility.

Ukraine's military said it shot down eight Iranian-made drones and two Russian cruise missiles on Monday. Iran on Monday stuck to its denial that it is supplying drones.

The Kremlin on Tuesday said the four regions of Ukraine that Russia declared it had incorporated in recent weeks fall under the protection of Russia's nuclear arsenal.

In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "These territories are inalienable parts of the Russian Federation ...and their security is provided for at the same level as the rest of Russia's territory."

Agencies via Xinhua