Hundreds of soldiers freed in the latest prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war in the latest such swap that saw the release of hundreds of captives and was brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates, officials said Monday.

Ukraine's 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 Defense Ministry said that 150 Russian soldiers were freed from captivity as part of the exchange in which each side released 150 people.

The reason for the discrepancy in numbers wasn’t immediately clear.

“We are working to free everyone from Russian captivity,” 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.

Zelenskyy said that those freed from Russian captivity included defenders of the Snake Island off the Black Sea port of Odesa, which was seized by Russia in the opening days of its invasion, as well as troops who defended the city of Mariupol, that was captured by Moscow's forces early in the war after a nearly three-month siege.

“The return of our people from Russian captivity is always very good news for each of us,” Zelenskyy said. “And today is one of those days: our team managed to return 189 Ukrainians home.”

In Moscow, the Defense Ministry said that Russian servicemen were first taken to the territory of Russia's neighbor and ally Belarus, where they received “psychological and medical assistance” before moving to Russia.

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 Monday that 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.

In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, a Russian soldier speaks on the phone with his relatives as he and others sit in a bus after being released in a prisoners swap between Russia and Ukraine, at an unspecified location in Belarus. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, a Russian soldier speaks on the phone with his relatives as he and others sit in a bus after being released in a prisoners swap between Russia and Ukraine, at an unspecified location in Belarus. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, a group of Russian soldiers sit in a bus after being released in a prisoners swap between Russia and Ukraine, at an unspecified location in Belarus. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, a group of Russian soldiers sit in a bus after being released in a prisoners swap between Russia and Ukraine, at an unspecified location in Belarus. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, a group of Russian soldiers sit in a bus after being released in a prisoners swap between Russia and Ukraine, at an unspecified location in Belarus. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A court in southeastern Bangladesh on Thursday rejected a plea for bail by a jailed Hindu leader who led large rallies in the Muslim-majority country demanding better security for minority groups.

Krishna Das Prabhu, 39, faces sedition charges after he led huge rallies in the southeastern city of Chattogram. Hindu groups say there have been thousands of attacks against Hindus since early August, when the secular government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was overthrown.

Prabhu didn't appear at the hearing, during which Chattogram Metropolitan Sessions Judge Saiful Islam rejected the bail plea, according to Public Prosecutor Mofizul Haque Bhuiyan. Security was tight, with police and soldiers guarding the court.

“He faces serious charges like sedition and others involving the security and sovereignty of our country," Bhuiyan told The Associated Press by phone. "We argued in the court that if he gets bail it could create anarchy as we saw in the past that he triggered violence on the court premises by calling thousands of his supporters to protest.

"So, we moved against his bail plea as we believed that he could misuse his bail.”

Apurba Kumar Bhattacharjee, a lawyer representing Prabhu, said that they would appeal the decision.

The court rejected an earlier request for bail made while Prabhu didn't have lawyers. Lawyers who sought to represent him at that hearing said they were threatened or intimidated, and many of them are facing charges related to the death of a Muslim lawyer during clashes outside the court when Prabhu appeared there shortly after being arrested in Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, in November.

For Thursday's hearing, 11 lawyers traveled from Dhaka, arriving and leaving with a security escort.

Hindu groups and other minority groups in Bangladesh and abroad have criticized the interim government led by Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus for undermining their security. Yunus and his supporters said that reports of attacks on Hindus and other groups since August have been exaggerated.

Prabhu’s arrest came as tensions spiked following reports of the desecration of the Indian flag in Bangladesh, with some burning it and others laying it on the floor for people to step on. Protesters in India responded in kind.

Prabhu is a spokesman for the Bangladesh Sammilito Sanatan Jagaran Jote group. He was also associated with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, widely known as the Hare Krishna movement.

Radharamn Das, vice president and spokesman of the group in Kolkata, the capital of India's West Bengal state, told the television station India Today that Prabhu's health is deteriorating.

Das said that the jailed Hindu leader "has become a face of minorities in Bangladesh. The minorities see him as a ray of hope. He represents their voice."

Police officials block a street leading to the court during the hearing of the bail plea by Krishna Das Prabhu, a jailed Hindu leader, in Chattogram, Bangladesh, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo)

Police officials clear the way for the vehicle carrying Krishna Das Prabhu, a jailed Hindu leader, after a court rejected his plea for bail, in Chattogram, Bangladesh, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo)