Russian Armed Forces soldier in MariupolMOSCOW, Mar 24 Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk claims that on Thursday there was an exchange of prisoners with Russia according to the formula 10 to 10.
"Today, on the orders of President Zelensky, the first full-fledged exchange of prisoners of war took place. In exchange for 10 captured invaders, we pulled out 10 of our servicemen", — Vereshchuk wrote in the Telegram channel.
According to her, Kyiv also handed over 11 Russian civilian sailors to Russia in exchange for 19 Ukrainian sailors from the rescue ship Sapphire. Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24th. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops. With the support of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the DPR and LPR groups are developing an offensive. But the occupation of Ukraine is out of the question, the President of Russia emphasized.