Russia and Ukraine stage new prisoner exchange, Russian defence ministry, Ukraine president say

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia and Ukraine exchanged 146 prisoners of war from each side on Sunday after mediation by the United Arab Emirates, the Russian defence ministry and the Ukrainian president said.

The Russian ministry said all of the freed Russians were in Belarus receiving psychological and medical assistance.

Ukraine also returned to Moscow eight Russian citizens, residents of the Kursk region, the ministry said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, writing on the Telegram messaging app, announced that the exchange had taken place, but gave no figures.

The president posted pictures of smiling returnees, saying most of them had been in captivity since 2022, when Russia invaded its smaller neighbour. He said a journalist taken prisoner a month after the invasion was among them.

Zelenskiy thanked the United Arab Emirates for its role in overseeing the swap.

"The exchanges are continuing. Perhaps that is possible because of our soldiers, who are increasing the exchange fund for Ukraine," the president wrote, referring to the capture of Russian servicemen.

(Reporting by ReutersEditing by David Goodman and Alistair Bell)