In short:
Ukraine brings home 189 prisoners of war in swap with Russia.
Russia said 150 Russian servicemen were returning home.
What's next?
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy thanked United Arab Emirates authorities and other partners for facilitating the swap.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war in a deal brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 189 Ukrainian prisoners, including military personnel, border guards and national guards — along with two civilians — were freed.
He thanked the UAE for helping negotiate the exchange.
Russia's defence ministry said 150 Russian soldiers were freed from captivity as part of the exchange in which each side released 150 people.
Daryna embraces her friend Roman, a Ukrainian prisoner of war, after he was freed. ( Reuters: Valentyn Ogirenko)
The reason for the discrepancy in numbers wasn't immediately clear.
"We are working to free everyone from Russian captivity," Mr Zelenskyy said in a statement.
"We do not forget anyone."
He posted pictures of Ukrainian soldiers sitting on a bus, some holding the country's blue-and-yellow flags.
Mr Zelenskyy said those freed from Russian captivity included defenders of the Snake Island off the Black Sea port of Odesa, which Russia seized in the opening days of its invasion.
The last prisoners of war exchange between Russia and Ukraine was in September. (Reuters: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Via Telegram)
Some troops who defended the city of Mariupol, which was captured by Moscow's forces early in the war after a nearly three-month siege were also freed.
Denys Prokopenko, Commander of the 12th Special Forces "Azov" Brigade that defended the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol before Russian forces captured it, said 11 of his men were among those returning.
"The return of our people from Russian captivity is always very good news for each of us," Mr Zelenskyy said.
"And today is one of those days: our team managed to return 189 Ukrainians home."
In Moscow, the defence ministry said Russian servicemen were first taken to the territory of Russia's neighbour and ally Belarus, where they received "psychological and medical assistance" before moving to Russia.
Mr Zelenskiy thanked United Arab Emirates authorities and other partners for facilitating the swap. (Reuters: Valentyn Ogirenko)
Russia and Ukraine have conducted dozens of such prisoner exchanges during the nearly three-year war.
The prisoner exchange came as President Joe Biden announced the United States will send nearly $2.5 billion more in weapons to Ukraine as his administration works quickly to spend all the money it has available to help Kyiv fight off Russia before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
The Ukrainian body overseeing Ukrainian swaps said it was the 59th exchange between the two sides since Russia's February 2022 invasion of its smaller neighbour.
That brought to 3,956 the number of Ukrainian detainees brought home.
It said those brought home this year included Ukrainian nationals serving what it described as "so-called sentences" imposed by Russian courts for various offences.
AP