On August 25, 2024, the CCTV Video News Agency (China) published a report on its YouTube channel about a prisoner exchange that took place the previous day between Russia and Ukraine. In the exchange, mediated by the UAE, 115 Russian military personnel held in the Kursk region were released in exchange for 115 captured Ukrainian military personnel. The freed Russian prisoners were sent to Belarus. The report featured footage released by the Russian Ministry of Defense showing the freed prisoners boarding a bus.
ON-SCREEN TEXT: “The Russian Defense Ministry announced on August 24 that 115 Russian servicemen captured in the Kursk region had been repatriated from Ukrainian-controlled territory as part of an exchange agreement. “In exchange, 115 Ukrainian prisoners of war were transferred,” the ministry said, adding that the United Arab Emirates acted as an intermediary in the exchange. All of the exchanged Russian servicemen are now in Belarus and will be sent to Russia for treatment and rehabilitation at the ministry’s military facilities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on August 24 that Russia had handed over the 115 prisoners to Ukraine the same day.”