Anti-war protests have erupted in Russia after Putin announced a partial mobilization of the military that will see 300,000 reservists sent to Ukraine.
This is CNBC's live blog tracking developments on the war in Ukraine. See below for the latest updates.
The prisoner exchange was something of a surprise on a day when tensions between Russia and the West rose even higher after Putin announced the partial mobilization and again blamed the West for the conflict in Ukraine. The prisoner swap came after Saudi Arabia brokered a deal between Russia and Ukraine, the Saudi government. The deal saw 10 prisoners of war — Moroccan, U.S., U.K. and Swedish and Croatian nationals — exchanged as part of a larger prisoner swap between Moscow and Kyiv.
Ukraine's President Zelenskyy's Telegram channel hailed the exchange on Thursday, saying "a total of 215 heroes" were finally coming home after being detained by Russian-backed forces in Ukraine. There have been reports of torture and mistreatment while in captivity although Russia denies these.Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
"Russia should pay for this war," Zelenskyy said, calling for a special U.N. tribunal to "punish Russia." Serhiy Nykyforov, spokesperson to the Office of the President of Ukraine, told NBC's Erin McLaughlin that "300,000 of people who were conscripts just yesterday will be sent to the places where recidivist thugs, mercenaries, and vaunted Kadyrov [Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the Chechen Republic] fighters failed. It is clear what will happen to these guys there, whom, as we saw in the first days of the invasion, the army cannot properly train and provide," he said.
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