UAE brokers massive Russia-Ukraine prisoner swap ahead of New Year’s Eve

Russia and Ukraine exchanged more than 300 prisoners of war on Monday in an exchange brokered by United Arab Emirates before New Year’s Eve, officials from all three countries said.

The two sides have exchanged hundreds of captive soldiers since Russia began its military assault on Ukraine in February 2022, in one of the few areas of cooperation.

“On December 30, as a result of the negotiation process, 150 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory controlled by the Kiev regime. In return, 150 prisoners of war from the Ukrainian army were handed over,” the Russian Ministry of defense.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kiev received 189 people under the deal, including soldiers, border guards and two civilians from the Russian-held city of Mariupol.

Ukraine said on Monday that Moscow had released a total of 3,956 people – soldiers and civilians – in deals with Kiev since the beginning of the conflict.

“We are working to free everyone from Russian captivity. This is our goal. We do not forget anyone,” Zelensky said.

The agreement underscores how the Gulf states have continued to position themselves as mediators in the war in Ukraine.

“The ministry stressed that the success of this new mediation, the tenth since the beginning of 2024, reflects the confidence of Russia and Ukraine in the UAE,” the emirate’s Foreign Ministry said. said in a statement on Monday.

According to the UAE’s Foreign Ministry, the Gulf state’s latest mediation brings the total number of prisoners it has helped free to 2,484.

The UAE benefited from its neutral status in the early days of the conflict, with Ukrainians and Russians flocking to Dubai and boosting their property market.

However, in 2024, Russian interest in the Emirates declined due to rising prices and Emirati banks becoming stricter in enforcing US sanctions. conformable to Bloomberg.

Ukraine is building bridges in Syria

The UAE has also become a hub for the re-export of luxury goods and dual-use military technology from the West to Russia. The US has put strong pressure on the UAE to reduce its involvement in Russian affairs. In 2023, the US sanctioned Volito, a Dubai-based Russian oil trader.

President-elect Donald Trump has promised to end the war in Ukraine when he returns to the White House in January. Gulf states, including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, may seek to position themselves as mediators.

However, ending the war could untangle several lucrative deals that those states have benefited from, including trade in sanctioned Russian oil and Re-exportation Russian oil products.

The UAE has worked with Russia in several hotspots in the region, supporting the same side in the Libyan war.

The UAE was also working on a deal, as reported by Middle East Eye to get sanctions relief for Russia’s ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria before he was toppled by rebels in December.

According to the Washington Post, Ukraine provided drone operators to aid Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in its successful offensive against Assad.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha MEET The new de facto leader of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Damascus on Monday, where he raised the Ukrainian flag at his country’s consulate.