UAE offers to mediate between Russia, Ukraine to facilitate potential POW swap: Report

As the war between Russia and Ukraine shows no sign of cessation, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Monday extended help to facilitate prisoner exchange between the two warring countries. According to sources cited by the Russian media network RIA Novosti, the proposal forwarded by the Emirati is currently under review by both factions. Russia and Ukraine officials have to prepare a concrete list of POWs before the slated swap is finalised.

This comes as both Russia and Ukraine have claimed to capture scores of troops since the Russian Federation launched the brutal invasion of Ukraine in February after months of palpable tension along the east European borders. As quoted by RIA Novosti, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed that Russia has detained more than 6,500 Ukrainian fighters since the inception of the war. Meanwhile, Ukrainian Deputy PM Iryan Vereschuk has flagged that Kyiv has conducted at least 11 rounds of prisoner exchanges in the past months. A dozen of POWs were swapped in the attempts, she had said.

Meanwhile, the countries in conflict have repeatedly accused each other of committing atrocities against the civilian population. While Kyiv has produced credible evidence of alleged war crimes by Russia, Moscow has voiced concerns over the treatment of Russian "civilian hostages" in Ukrainian territory. Russia's top human rights official Tatyana Moskalkova also slammed the International Red Cross for failing to provide solid information on the Russian POWs held in Ukraine.

UAE growing ties with Moscow ahead of Biden's visit

Acceptance of UAE's proposal to Russia could lead to a potential discomfort between the Emirati and the US. The ties have remained in frays after Abu Dhabi refrained from deploring Russia during a UN Security Council vote to condemn the war on Ukraine. According to RIA Novosti, the country is also under constant criticism for harbouring Russian oligarchs in the wake of stifling West-led sanctions, which has led other countries to close doors on them.

This comes as US President Joe Biden is supposed to take a trip to the Middle East in the coming month. During his trip, Biden is expected to meet UAE Premier Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan to discuss "cooperation and important innovation hubs." Biden could also meet Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), who he once shunned as a "pariah" after the brutal killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The visit comes at a time when Washington is looking for strategic ties to secure oil supply to the global markets in order to provide some relief to consumers amid the skyrocketing fuel prices in the country following sanctions on Russia.

However, earlier this weekend, Biden insisted that the trip to Saudi was not aiming for deals on energy or fuel, even though the US has been pressuring OPEC+ to ramp up oil production. "The commitments from the Saudis don't relate to anything having to do with energy," he said. "It happens to be a larger meeting taking place in Saudi Arabia. That's the reason I'm going. And it has to do with national security for them - for Israelis," the MiddleEastEye reported.

(Image: AP)