INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russia and Ukraine traded hundreds of prisoners of war on Wednesday, just a week after Moscow said Kyiv had shot down a plane carrying
Ukraine shot it down, and on Wednesday claimed Kyiv's forces used a US Patriot system to do so."This has already been established by
forensics," Putin said in a televised appearance.Despite the tension, both sides made simultaneous announcements hailing the latest
agreement on Wednesday to free more than 400 people captured during the course of the two-year war.Russia's Defense Ministry said 195 of its
Ukraine."Our people are back
We return them home no matter what," Zelensky said in a social media post.'We will release all our people'In his daily evening address,
Zelensky added that a total of over 3,000 Ukrainian POWs have now returned home."They have different ranks and experience
All are equally important for Ukraine," Zelensky stressed."We will release all our people in the same way
Moscow said.Ukraine said the youngest soldier returning home was 20, while the oldest was 61.The freed Ukrainians include those who fought
"playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners" while Moscow says Ukraine committed a "terrorist act."Uncertainty remains after the Russian
plane crashed in a fireball in the western Belgorod region on Jan
24.Moscow says it was ferrying 65 Ukrainian POWs on the way to a scheduled exchange.Putin claimed last week Kyiv knew dozens of its soldiers
could have been on board, an accusation Ukraine has fiercely rejected.Ukraine has not outright denied Moscow's version of events, but
questioned whether captured Ukrainian soldiers were actually on board and said Moscow never told it in advance that POWs would be flown near
the border.Officials in Kyiv have called for Moscow to publish photos of the dead POWs' bodies or provide other evidence to back up its
Russia invaded in February 2022, Kyiv said.Ukraine said more than 3,000 POWs have now been returned
A similar number of Russians have also been freed, with most exchanges based on a one-for-one format.Thousands who have been captured or
surrendered throughout the nearly two-year war are thought to still be in captivity.'Not stopping'On the battlefield, both sides reported
ongoing fights for territory across the sprawling frontline.Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesman for Ukraine's army, said Ukraine's forces were
"firmly on the defensive" in the eastern Donetsk region."The enemy has not stopped trying to surround Avdiivka," he said in an interview
months.Putin on Wednesday appeared to confirm Russia was moving in on the town, claiming Moscow's troops had captured 19 houses on its
diplomatic front, Kyiv is hoping for a breakthrough this week over unlocking 50 billion euros ($54.2 billion) of aid from the EU.EU leaders
will meet on Thursday to discuss future support for Kyiv, hoping to reach a final agreement over a massive four-year financial aid package
that was blocked by Hungary last year.
