(Reuters) – Russia has released some of the Ukrainian fighters it took prisoner after a protracted battle for the port city of Mariupol earlier this year, public broadcaster Suspline said on Wednesday.
Suspline, citing the Azov battalion unit that did much of the fighting, said an exchange had happened near the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv. It gave no details.
The Telegram account of Andriy Biletsky, original founder of the Azov battalion, showed him giving a victory sign with the caption “In service” as he held one of the captives. Reuters was not immediately able to verify when the photo had been taken.
Earlier in the day, Saudi Arabia said Russia had released 10 foreign prisoners of war captured in Ukraine following mediation by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Last month, the head of the Russian-backed separatist administration in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk said a trial of captured Azov personnel would take place by the end of the summer.
After fighting for weeks from the bunkers and tunnels below Mariupol’s giant the steel works, hundreds of Azov fighters surrendered in May to Russian-backed forces.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Alistair Bell)
