Operation in Kursk region increases incentives for Russia to engage in POW exchanges - ISW
This is said in a report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), according to Ukrinform.
Ukrainian officials reported that Russia returned 103 prisoners to Ukraine including Ukrainian service members who defended the Azovstal Steel Plant in Mariupol in early 2022, service members of the Ukrainian National Police and State Border Guard Service, service members of the Ukrainian State Transport Special Service, and other Ukrainian military personnel.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed on September 14 that Ukraine returned 103 individuals to Russia whom Ukrainian forces captured in the Kursk region. Russian sources suggested that the returned Russian prisoners were conscripts.
The POW swap directly follows a similar exchange that Russia and Ukraine conducted on September 13, during which they returned 49 prisoners each.
The ISW notes that Ukrainian officials have repeatedly emphasized that the Kursk incursion has enhanced Ukraine’s negotiating power in POW exchanges with Russia, following the Kremlin's consistent rejection of Ukraine's attempt to negotiate exchanges.
“The frequency of POW exchanges between Ukraine and Russia has significantly increased since the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk Oblast on August 6, with both sides exchanging a total of 267 POWs each in three separate exchanges,” the report says.
The ISW added that Russia and Ukraine only conducted three other POW exchanges, encompassing roughly 405 Ukrainian POWs and 423 Russian POWs, between January 1 and August 6, 2024.
As Ukrinform reported, on September 14, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the return of 103 Ukrainians from Russian captivity.
