Ukrainian women walk towards their relatives as part of all-female prisoner swap with Russia on October 17, 2022 in Ukraine.
Ukrainian Presidential Office/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Ukraine and Russia exchanged a total of 218 prisoners on Monday, one of the largest swaps in the war thus far.
Ukrainian officials said it was the biggest all-female prisoner exchange between both nations.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense confirmed the prisoner exchange on its Telegram channel.
Russia and Ukraine followed through with a huge prisoner exchange on Monday, swapping 108 Ukrainian women held in Russia for 110 Russians detained in Ukraine.
Of the 108 Ukrainian women released, 37 were evacuees from the Avostal steel plant in Mariupol, 11 were officers, and 85 were privates and non-commissioned officers, tweeted Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
—Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) October 17, 2022
In a post on his Telegram channel, Yermak wrote that Monday’s exchange was the first all-female prisoner swap since the war began in February.
“It was a nervous exchange. There are too many details and moments that could affect the process, change its course,” Yermak wrote.
Zelenskyy highlighted the exchange in his national address on Monday evening. “We managed to return 108 Ukrainian women: officers, sergeants, privates, army, navy, territorial defense, national guards, border guards,” he said.
Ukrainian women pose for a photo after re-uniting with their relatives as part of all-female prisoner swap with Russia on October 17, 2022 in Ukraine.
Ukrainian Presidential Office/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed the prisoner exchange on its Telegram channel, saying that 72 of the 110 freed Russians were civilian sailors who had been detained in Ukraine since February. It did not specify the genders of the Russian captives, though it referred to the sailors as “seamen,” appearing to contradict Yermak’s Telegram message on it being an all-female prisoner swap.
Some of the Russian prisoners released were members of pro-Russian separatist military units from the Donbas region of Ukraine, the BBC reported.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed two Ukrainian women marked for the swap voluntarily declined to return to Ukraine before the exchange. Ukrainian officials have neither acknowledged nor confirmed that allegation. Representatives at Ukraine’s presidential office did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
The Ukrainian Presidential Office released several photos of the Ukrainian captives meeting their relatives back in their home country.
“Now all the ladies will undergo a medical examination and rehabilitation. They will hug their relatives, their children. They will recover,” Yermak wrote in another tweet on Monday, thanking the staff who coordinated the prisoner exchange.
Ukrainian women reunite with relatives during all-female prisoner swap deal with Russia since the war began in Ukraine on October 17, 2022.
Ukrainian Presidential Office / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners multiple times since the beginning of the war. In June, Ukraine secured the release of 144 soldiers, 95 of whom had defended the Avostal steel plant.
In September, Russia returned 215 Ukrainians to their country. In return, Ukraine released 55 Russian prisoners of war and Viktor Medvedchuk, a prominent Putin ally.