55 Servicemen From Russia, DPR and LPR Returned in Prisoner Exchange: Russian MoD

The exchange comes a day after President Vladimir Putin declared a "partial mobilization" in support of Russia's ongoing special military operation in Ukraine.

Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have led to the return of 55 prisoners of war from Russia and the Donbass People's Militias, Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov has announced.

"As a result of a complex exchange negotiation process, last night, 55 servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces, the Donetsk and Lugansk republics who faced mortal danger were returned from the territory of Ukraine," Konashenkov said in a briefing Thursday.

All of the returnees have been delivered to Russia by military transport aircraft, and are located in Defense Ministry medical institutions, the spokesman added.

"All of the released servicemen have been given the opportunity to contact their relatives. They are being provided with all necessary psychological and medical assistance," Konashenkov said.

The officer did not elaborate any further on the terms of the exchange, or what the Ukrainian side received in return.

The fate of Russian and Donbass prisoners of war in Ukrainian custody has sparked concerns in the MoD and in Russian society throughout the course of the special military operation in Ukraine amid regular reports of their torture and murder at the hands of Ukrainian ultra-nationalist formations.

In May, United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine chief Matilda Bogner sparked outrage in Kiev after confirming that the UN has "credible" evidence on the mistreatment of Russian military personnel by Ukrainian forces.