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Russia said Saturday it swapped 103 Ukrainian soldiers held captive for an equal number of Russian POWs in an exchange deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates.

The Russian troops freed in Saturday’s swap were captured during Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region, which began on 6 August, according to the Russian defence ministry.

There was no immediate confirmation from the Ukrainian side.

‘As a result of the negotiation process, 103 Russian servicemen captured in the Kursk region were returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime,’ the Russian defence ministry said.

‘In return, 103 Ukrainian army prisoners of war were handed over.’

‘At present, all Russian servicemen are on the territory of the Republic of Belarus, where they are being provided with the necessary psychological and medical assistance, as well as an opportunity to contact their relatives,’ the ministry added.

The announcement comes just three weeks after Russia and Ukraine swapped 115 prisoners of war each in an exchange deal also mediated by the UAE.

Russia said on Saturday it had recaptured another village in eastern Ukraine, where it has made a string of advances.

‘The locality of Zhelannoe Pervoe (Zhelanne Pershe in Ukrainian) was freed thanks to the active and decisive operations of the southern units,’ the defence ministry said.

The village is located in the Pokrovsk district, an important logistical hub for the Ukrainian army.

Russian forces have advanced rapidly in the eastern region of Donetsk in recent weeks, putting pressure on a Ukrainian army that is short of both soldiers and weapons.

The Kremlin regularly claims its army has captured small villages in eastern Ukraine.

In a rarer announcement, it said on Tuesday it had captured a town in the region, called Krasnogorivka. 

On August 6, the Ukrainian army launched an incursion into Russia’s border region of Kursk, advancing kilometres into Russian territory and seizing dozens of settlements.

It hopes to force Moscow to redeploy troops from Donetsk to Kursk and hamper the Russian advance in Donetsk.  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday Kyiv had ‘slowed’ Russia’s progress. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that capturing the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, the industrial basin comprising Donetsk and Lugansk was his top priority.