Sailors who attempted to rescue Ukrainian troops from Snake Island last month have been freed in a prisoner exchange, Ukraine has announced.
Russia and Ukraine exchanged 10 prisoners of war each on Thursday, in what was called by Ukraine’s Deputy PM Iryna Vereshchuk the first full prisoner swap of the war.
The exchange also released 19 Ukrainian civilian sailors who were captured as their ship tried to take Ukrainian soldiers off Zmiinyi Island, also known as Snake Island, in exchange for 11 Russian civilian sailors who were rescued from a sunken ship near Odessa.
Snake Island hit headlines worldwide after Ukrainian soldiers were defiantly recorded telling a Russian vessel, “Russian warship, go f**k yourself” when told to surrender.
They were initially feared dead but it was later reported that they had actually been taken prisoner by Russian forces.
However, it was not clear whether the actual soldiers themselves were part of the prisoner swap.
Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service said earlier Thursday that Ms Vereshchuk was working on freeing those men.
“Ukraine hopes to soon return captive Ukrainian soldiers from the island of Zmiinyi, exchanging them for Russian sailors,” it said in a statement.
The Ukrainian civilian sailors freed by Russia in the prisoner swap had been aboard the Sapphire, a ship that sailed to the island on a search and rescue mission but was captured.
The ship will now also be released and sent to a dock in Turkey, Ms Vereshchuk said.
The news was also confirmed by Ukraine’s parliament, which said on its official Twitter page: “Our sailors will return home from the rescue ship "Sapphire," which was captured by the Russian occupiers while trying to withdraw Ukrainian troops from the #Zmiiny island.”
Other smaller prisoner swaps have previously occurred during the month-long conflict.
This includes the swap of nine Russian servicemen for Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov who was “abducted” by Russian forces.
