UKRAINE said today it swapped several captured soldiers with Russia in the south of the war-scarred country, where Moscow’s invading forces have solidified their greatest gains.

“After tense negotiations, we managed to reach agreements on a prisoner exchange near the village of Posad-Pokrovskoye, where four Russian military servicemen were exchanged for our five,” Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said.

Russian troops have captured the city of Kherson, which is the administrative capital of the eponymous region where today’s declared swap took place.

The exchange followed an announcement from Kyiv yesterday of a fourth swap of prisoners since Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said a total of 30 people on the Ukrainian side were involved in that exchange.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky this week offered to swap pro-Kremlin tycoon Viktor Medvedchuk, one of the richest people in Ukraine and who was arrested by Kyiv after escaping house arrest, for Ukrainians captured by Russia. – AFP, April 15, 2022.