The United States has welcomed the negotiated prisoners exchange between Ukraine and Russia, which includes two U.S. citizens captured while serving in Ukraine’s military.
Secretary of State, Antony Blinken made this known in a statement released on Wednesday, as United States is appreciative of Ukraine including all prisoners of war, regardless of nationality, in its negotiations.
Ukraine handed over a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin in exchange for hundreds of prisoners of war including many captured in a landmark battle, a swap that outraged pro-Kremlin propagandists.
Viktor Medvedchuk was one of 55 people turned over to Russia in return for 215 Ukrainian prisoners, including 188 who held out for months against Russian assault at the Azovstal steel plant in the port city of Mariupol early in the war.
Among the group that was returned to the government in Kyiv were 108 members of the Azov brigade, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a statement late Wednesday.
Blinken said Americans is looking bforward to these U.S. citizens to be reunited with their families. “We also thank our Saudi partners for helping to spearhead this humanitarian initiative and facilitating the return of ten foreign nationals.
“Including the two U.S. citizens greeted earlier today by our embassy team in Riyadh. I conveyed my gratitude to Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan in a call this morning”, Secretary to the State added.
He also reiterated that U.S. citizens should not travel to Ukraine due to the active armed conflict and the singling out of U.S. citizens in Ukraine by Russian government security officials.
“U.S. citizens in Ukraine should depart immediately if it is safe to do so using any commercial or other privately available ground transportation options.
“Americans who travel to Ukraine to participate in the fighting there face significant risks and the United States cannot guarantee their safety.
“We encourage U.S. citizens to devote their energies towards the many other opportunities that exist to help the country of Ukraine and its people”, Secretary Blinken said.
Ukraine on Wednesday announced the exchange of a record-high 215 imprisoned soldiers with Russia, including fighters who led the defense of Mariupol’s Azovstal steelworks that became an icon of Ukrainian resistance.
Russia received 55 prisoners including Viktor Medvedchuk, a former Ukrainian lawmaker and ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin accused of high treason, Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily address.
The swap was the biggest exchange between the warring sides since the start of Russia’s invasion in February.
Ten prisoners of war from countries including the United States and Britain were earlier on Wednesday transferred to Saudi Arabia as part of the exchange between Moscow and Kyiv, Zelensky said.
“We have managed to liberate 215 people,” Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak announced on television.
Zelensky said five military commanders including leaders of the defence of Azovstal were taken to Turkey as part of an operation prepared well in advance and agreed with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The released prisoners will remain in Turkey “in total security and in comfortable conditions” until the end of the war, Zelensky added.
The Ukrainian forces’ longstanding refusal to surrender at Azovstal despite shortages of ammunition and supplies earned them praise across the country for their heroism in defying overwhelming odds against Russia’s superior numbers and firepower.
The prisoners of war transferred to Saudi Arabia comprised five British nationals, two Americans and one each from Morocco, Sweden and Croatia, according to a Saudi official briefed on the operation.
A Saudi statement said they had arrived in the kingdom from Russia and that Saudi authorities were “facilitating procedures for their safe return to their respective countries.”
British Prime Minister Liz Truss said on Twitter that the release of the Britons was “hugely welcome news… ending months of uncertainty and suffering for them and their families.”
Truss said they had been “held by Russian-backed proxies in eastern Ukraine,” and thanked Zelensky and Saudi Arabia for helping free them.
MP Robert Jenrick on Twitter identified one of the British detainees as “my constituent” Aiden Aslin, who had been sentenced to death in June as an alleged mercenary after being captured by pro-Russian separatists.
Jenrick said the British detainees were “on their way back to the UK” and that Aslin’s family “could finally be at peace.”
The White House thanked Zelensky and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for facilitating the exchange.
“We look forward to our citizens being reunited with their families,” US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement on Twitter.
The Moroccan detainee is Brahim Saadoun, who was also sentenced to death in June by the unrecognized Donetsk People’s Republic, according to a Moroccan official at the embassy in Riyadh.
Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said on Twitter that the Swedish citizen, also held in Donetsk, “has now been exchanged and is well.” She also thanked Ukraine and Saudi Arabia.
In Zagreb, the foreign ministry named the released Croat as Vjekoslav Prebeg, detained in April, and said he would return on Thursday, thanking Kyiv and Riyadh.
The releases came following efforts by Prince Mohammed, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, “in continuation of (his) commitment to humanitarian initiatives towards Russian-Ukrainian crisis,” the Saudi statement said.
Video broadcast by the official Saudi Press Agency showed the 10 prisoners of war being greeted by Saudi officials as they descended from a plane in Riyadh, then being escorted into a room where they chatted with diplomats from their respective embassies.