Ukraine secures return of 49 people in POW exchange with Russia

(Reuters) - Ukraine has secured the release of 49 people from Russian captivity in the latest exchange of prisoners with Moscow, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday.

The latest swap since Russia's invasion in 2022 was mediated by the United Arab Emirates, a spokesperson for Ukraine's military intelligence agency said.

"Another return of our people - something we always wait for and work tirelessly to achieve... We must bring home every single one of our people, both military and civilian," Zelenskiy said on X, announcing the 56th such swap with Russia.

Zelenskiy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said on the Telegram messaging app the Ukrainians released included seven civilians as well as personnel from the armed forces, national guard, police and the border guard service.

Ukraine did not say how many Russians had been released. Moscow is yet to comment on the swap.

Video footage released by Ukraine from an undisclosed location showed service personnel being greeted with flowers, hugs and leaflets saying: "Thank you for enduring it all". One released prisoner held the leaflet to his heart and wept.

Kyiv and Moscow have frequently exchanged prisoners since Russia's full-scale invasion, and Friday swap was the second since Ukraine began a cross-border incursion into Russia's Kursk region in early August.

Ukraine said its troops had captured at least 600 Russian soldiers during the incursion, and that this would help it secure the return of captured Ukrainians.

Yermak said that some of Ukrainians released had taken part in the defence of Mariupol and the Azovstal steel plant in the southern port city, which had been under siege in fierce fighting and is now occupied by Russian troops.

Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said Ukraine had now secured the return of 3,569 people from Russian captivity since the start of the invasion.

(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa, Editing by Gareth Jones and Timothy Heritage)