Ukraine and Russia have exchanged 300 service personnel each in the second day of a two-day prisoner swap, with some of those released having been held since 2022 in the war.
It is the second POW exchange so far this year and follows the recent round of the US-brokered peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.
The two countries exchanged 200 prisoners of war each on Thursday, on the first day of the swaps.
"They defended Ukraine in various sectors – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and in Mariupol," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Telegram, commenting on the second day of the swap.
"Most of them had been in captivity for more than a year, some since 2022."
Zelenskiy said that two Ukrainian civilians were also returned home on Friday.
The Russian defence ministry said that the United States and the United Arab Emirates acted as mediators in the exchange.
Ukraine and Russia had agreed on the swap in Geneva in February.
Zelenskiy posted a video of dozens of men exiting big white buses, smiling, waving and thanking the Ukrainian border guards who greeted them.
"I am alive and healthy. It is all good. I do not have teeth," said one serviceman talking to his mobile phone on a loudspeaker.
The previous POW swap was in early February after peace talks in Abu Dhabi earlier that month.
Ukraine hoped for a new round of talks on how to end the war at the start of March but they were postponed after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran, prompting Iran to fire missiles toward Israel and several Gulf locations hosting US military facilities in retaliation.
Zelenskiy said earlier this week that Ukraine was waiting for a new date for the talks from the United States.
with DPA
