Russia-Ukraine Exchange of Prisoners

The Russia-Ukrainian war, which began in early 2022, has been ongoing for almost 2 years. This issue, which blew up the news for months, has slowly been getting less and less media coverage. However, despite this, there are still updates on what is happening in this war. Throughout the war, Russia and Ukraine have been exchanging prisoners, whether they were regular civilians or soldiers who faltered from the opposing side. It took many negotiations between the two countries for the exchange of prisoners to begin and even required mediation from the United Arab Emirates. About a week ago, a Russian plane with Ukrainian soldiers was shot down, with Russia claiming that it was Ukraine that shot the plane down. During this time, it was unclear whether or not the two countries would continue trading prisoners, but it became clear that they would continue with this exchange when just a few days ago, they traded prisoners again. On Wednesday, January 31, Russia and Ukraine swapped hundreds of war prisoners, demonstrating that the exchange would continue. Sarina Jubaer, a Sewanhaka Freshman, says “I think Russia and Ukraine exchanging prisoners at war is a very promising development since it shows making agreements and deals between the two countries is possible.” Another Freshman, Nibin Varghese, didn’t believe that an exchange of prisoners would happen, saying “ It was surprising how Russia agreed to exchange prisoners of war. I felt like in the sense of Russia, they would’ve rather executed those prisoners rather than trade back for their soldiers.” These quotes from within Sewanhaka High School mirror the views of many American citizens, with relief at the soldiers that were exchanged being freed, but at the same time holding disbelief that Russia would trade prisoners. Many people celebrated the safe return of these soldiers and citizens, with joy being brought to Russia and Ukraine during the dark times they were going through.