It reiterated that pilgrims require a Haj visa and it can be obtained through recognised official channels
On Wednesday, Ukraine announced the exchange of a record-high 215 imprisoned soldiers with Russia — including fighters who led the defence of Mariupol's Azovstal steelworks, that became an icon of Ukrainian resistance.
Russia received 55 prisoners including Viktor Medvedchuk — a former Ukrainian lawmaker and ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin accused of high treason — Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily address.
This swap is the biggest exchange between the warring sides, since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine tensions in February.
Earlier on Wednesday, ten prisoners of war from various countries, including the United States and Britain, were transferred to Saudi Arabia as part of the exchange between Moscow and Kyiv, Zelensky said.
"We have managed to liberate 215 people," Ukraine's presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak announced on television.
Zelensky said that five military commanders — including leaders of the defence of Azovstal — were taken to Turkey as part of an operation prepared well in advance, and agreed with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The released prisoners will remain in Turkey "in total security, and in comfortable conditions" until the end of the crisis, Zelensky added.
The prisoners of war transferred to Saudi Arabia comprised five British nationals, two Americans, and one each from Morocco, Sweden and Croatia, according to a Saudi official briefed on the operation.
A Saudi statement said they had arrived in the kingdom from Russia, and that the Saudi authorities were "facilitating procedures for their safe return to their respective countries".
ALSO READ:
British Prime Minister Liz Truss said on Twitter that the release of the Britons was "hugely welcome news ... ending months of uncertainty and suffering for them and their families".
Truss added that they had been "held by Russian-backed proxies in eastern Ukraine", and thanked Zelensky and Saudi Arabia for helping free them.
MP Robert Jenrick, on Twitter, identified one of the British detainees as "my constituent" Aiden Aslin, who had been sentenced to death in June, as an alleged mercenary after being captured by pro-Russian separatists.
Jenrick said the British detainees were "on their way back to the UK" and that Aslin's family "could finally be at peace".
The White House thanked Zelensky and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for facilitating the exchange.
"We look forward to our citizens being reunited with their families," US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement on Twitter.
The Moroccan detainee is Brahim Saadoun, who was also sentenced to death in June by the unrecognised Donetsk People's Republic, according to a Moroccan official at the embassy in Riyadh.
Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said on Twitter that the Swedish citizen, also held in Donetsk, "has now been exchanged and is well". She also thanked Ukraine and Saudi Arabia.
In Zagreb, the foreign ministry named the released Croat as Vjekoslav Prebeg, detained in April, and said that he would return on Thursday, thanking Kyiv and Riyadh.
The releases came following efforts by Prince Mohammed, "in continuation of [his] commitment to the humanitarian initiatives towards the Russian-Ukrainian crisis", the Saudi statement said.
A video broadcast by the official Saudi Press Agency showed the 10 prisoners of war being greeted by Saudi officials, as they descended from a plane in Riyadh, then being escorted into a room where they chatted with diplomats from their respective embassies.
It reiterated that pilgrims require a Haj visa and it can be obtained through recognised official channels
The 18-year-old was taken to hospital in a serious condition
The brothers, who say they are innocent, are accused of having formed an organised criminal network in early 2021 in Romania, as well as in the US and Britain
The left-handed batter scored 3369 runs in 136 one-day internationals and 2893 in 140 Twenty20 internationals — both Pakistan records
Food supplies were distributed to 80 households
On January 31, a heart was airlifted from Delhi to Chennai, paving the way for Ayesha Rashid's life-saving surgery
The online retailer, which is headquartered in Singapore, has said it has around 108 million monthly active users in the 27-nation EU
The baby girl named Rouh, meaning Soul, suffered respiratory problems and a weak immune system, a doctor at the Emirati Hospital in Rafah said