Russia and Ukraine Exchange Prisoners with UAE Help

Last updated on August 25th, 2024 at 12:19 pm

Saturday saw Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners, with 115 people on either side. The United Arab Emirates played its role in facilitating the exchange. This is an important, vital exchange because it came after Ukraine had launched an attack inside Russia on 6 August. That had been the biggest raid inside Russia by any country since the end of World War Two.

The Ministry of Defense of Russia has thanked the UAE for assistance in the swap. The Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, published a picture with the returned Ukrainian soldiers. He thanked the Ukrainian troops who assisted in catching Russian soldiers to trade.

Big Role for UAE

The UAE has been involved in many of these swaps. They now have helped exchange 1,788 prisoners in all. This is the seventh time they’ve helped Russia and Ukraine swap prisoners. This friendship that the UAE has with both the United States and Russia is rather uncommon. Of late, they’ve become closer to Ukraine as well.

These swaps enable both sides to recover their people. Good for the soldiers and their families. It is also a sign that despite Russia and Ukraine having fought for so long, they can still talk and sometimes come up with a deal. It’s very important to have the help of the UAE because both Russia and Ukraine trust them.

The UAE has overseen six other prisoner swaps between Russia and Ukraine this year. They even helped the US and Russia in swapping two prisoners back in December 2022. Indeed, these prisoner swaps have been going on since early 2023, helping more than 1,700 prisoners from both sides go home.

What This Means

These swaps are in a way able to prove that the UAE is good at making countries talk, even while fighting. This shows that it has good relations with Russia and Ukraine. They help soften the war a little by giving people hope that maybe Russia and Ukraine can have more talking in the future.

What’s Next

The UAE added that the country will also continue to help Russia and Ukraine in any way so that they continue to keep talking and maybe stop fighting. It supports any ideas that can bring peace. Prisoner swaps like this are just a good beginning with much to do for the complete halting of the war.

In the end, this swap is some small good news in a big, sad war. That shows sometimes, even when countries are at war, they can sometimes work together to help their people. The work that the UAE is doing to make these swaps happen is very important and gives hope that many good things will develop soon.