Russia and Ukraine have exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war in a deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The Russian defence ministry said it had swapped 150 Ukrainian soldiers held captive for an equal number of Russian troops.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy said 189 Ukrainians had returned home.
He added that those released included “defenders of Azovstal and Mariupol”, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and Snake Island.
The BBC was present as freed Ukrainians were reunited with their loved ones at a location in northern Ukraine.
Before they arrived, Alina who was waiting for her husband Oleksandr – captured while defending the south-eastern city of Mariupol in 2022 – had tears streaming down her face.
“I have so many emotions,” she said “It’s been so difficult. I just want to see him.”
Released prisoner Anatoliy, who was captured in the south-eastern city of Mariupol in 2022, told the BBC he was “overwhelmed by feelings”.
“Thank God this day has come. We’re home. Now we’re going to support Ukraine with everything we’ve got,” he said.
Another released prisoner, Igor, told the BBC: “I’m very happy to return to my own country, to my own land. I have no words to say what I feel now.”
The Russian defence ministry meanwhile said newly-released Russian troops were in Belarus and were being given medical assistance and the chance to contact their families.
In a video posted by Russian human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova, soldiers were seen gathered in front of coaches in military and winter clothing.
“Very soon our guys will hug their families and friends and celebrate the New Year on their native land,” she said in an accompanying message.
This was the 59th prisoner exchange since the full-scale invasion began and one of the biggest so far.
On the Ukrainian side, those released included soldiers, border guards, National Guardsmen and Navy servicemen. Many had been in captivity for more than two-and-a-half years, and Ukrainian officials said some had returned with serious illnesses and injuries.
For some families, the agonising uncertainty has come to an end. But thousands more Ukrainians remain in captivity in Russia and occupied parts of Ukraine.
Officials in Kyiv told the BBC that negotiations about prisoner exchanges have become more difficult in recent months – ever since Russian forces began to make significant advances on the battlefield.
Ukraine does not publish numbers of prisoners of war being held by Russia, but the total is thought to be more than 8,000.
Denys Prokopenko, commander of Ukraine’s 12th Special Forces Azov Brigade that defended Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant before it was captured by Russian forces, said on X that 11 of the brigade’s men were returned in the swap.
Prokopenko was released in a prisoner swap in 2022.
Zelensky said two civilians captured in Mariupol were also among those released.
“We are working to free everyone from Russian captivity. This is our goal. We do not forget anyone,” Zelensky said. He posted photos showing some of the swapped men sitting on a coach holding up yellow-and-blue Ukrainian flags.
In May 2022, Russia declared victory after a months-long battle to conquer the south-eastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, with the last fighters defending the Azovstal steel plant having surrendered.
Russian troops seized Chernobyl in the country’s north-west at the beginning of their invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but later handed back control of the plant to its employees.
Snake Island in the Black Sea was also seized in 2022 and the Ukrainian soldiers were taken prisoner, but later exchanged for Russian captives. (BBC News)
