On 3 January Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war, in the biggest such swap since Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 230 Ukrainian prisoners of war returned to their homes, and a total of 248 Russian servicemen were released from Ukrainian territory, in a deal brokered by the UAE. This is the 49th prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia during the war, Kyiv’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said. Volodymyr Zelensky said that 213 soldiers, eleven officers, and six civilians had been released; he added that negotiations ‘have not ceased for a single moment’. The UAE is among a handful of nations to have maintained close ties with Russia in spite of Putin’s decision to invade a European neighbour, which has otherwise left Russia isolated on the world stage and facing mounting Western and international sanctions.