Russian, Ukrainian top rights officials discuss PoWs

Russia and Ukraine's rights ombudspersons said Friday they had met in Belarus, a close ally of Moscow, to discuss prisoners of war in a rare direct meeting.

Russia's Tatyana Moskalkova and Ukraine's Dmytro Lubinets said on social media they had also facilitated the transfer of a 91-year-old woman from Ukraine to Russia.

"We exchanged lists of prisoners of war," Lubinets said, adding that he had passed on letters from relatives to Ukrainian prisoners of war.

Both officials, who last met in Turkey in early 2023, said their work had been aided by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Humanitarian issues such as the exchange of prisoners and bodies of killed military personnel remain one of the few areas of cooperation between Moscow and Kyiv since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Ukraine said earlier on Friday it had received the bodies of 563 soldiers from Russian authorities, mainly troops who had died in combat in the eastern Donetsk region.

Last month, Russia and Ukraine exchanged 115 prisoners of war from each side on Saturday after the United Arab Emirates acted as an intermediary.

Confirming its role in facilitating the exchange, the UAE foreign ministry said that the total number of captives exchanged through its mediation efforts now stood at 1,788.

It is the seventh such exchange the UAE has mediated since Russia invaded Ukraine. An Emirati official earlier told Reuters that Russia and Ukraine were to swap prisoners following mediation by the Gulf state.

UAE officials say their ability to talk to a range of international actors means that they can effectively mediate between parties and promote cooperation and security.

Despite ongoing hostilities, Russia and Ukraine have managed to swap hundreds of prisoners throughout the two-and-half-year conflict -- often in deals brokered by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia or Turkey.