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What the UAE-brokered prisoner swap involved
Summary
A look back at the exchange of hundreds of prisoners of war between Russia and Ukraine, reported at the end of December 2024.
What did the prisoner exchange reported on 31 December 2024 actually involve? According to the reports, Russia and Ukraine swapped hundreds of prisoners of war on 30 December 2024, in a deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates.
Kyiv said that many of those released by Russia were soldiers captured during the Siege of Mariupol in 2022. That detail matters because it points to men who had been in captivity since the early months of the invasion, rather than to recently captured troops.
The mediator's role
The exchange was brokered by the United Arab Emirates, which acted as the intermediary for the deal. The reports give no further detail on how the arrangement was negotiated.
Why prisoners matter
The treatment of prisoners of war has been a persistent concern in the war. Later accounts describe both Ukrainian and Russian or separatist prisoners as having suffered abuse, including mistreatment, exposure to public curiosity, torture and even execution. Against that record, each exchange that returns captives home carries particular weight for the families and the governments involved.
The reports from the covered day describe the swap itself and the Mariupol link, and nothing more about its terms or numbers beyond "hundreds".
