Ukraine live briefing: E.U. calls Russia's invasion a 'brutal wake-up' for Europe; Griner released from Russia

WNBA star Brittney Griner has been released from Russian detention in a prisoner swap for arms dealer Viktor Bout, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday and two senior Biden administration officials told The Washington Post.

“Moments ago I spoke to Brittney Griner,” Biden tweeted Thursday. “She is safe. She is on a plane. She is on her way home.”

Griner has been imprisoned since her arrest Feb. 17, when she was accused of entering Russia with vape cartridges containing cannabis oil, which is illegal there, though her attorneys said it was prescribed as part of treatment for chronic pain and other conditions. She was sentenced to 9½ years in prison in August and was sent to a penal colony last month.

See our live updates on Griner’s release here.

Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.

As Ukraine and Russia step up prisoner exchanges, scarred POWs tell of abuse: Among the 60 prisoners of war who arrived on Ukrainian soil on Tuesday afternoon, many were so malnourished during Russian captivity that they would be unable to digest more than 300 milliliters of chicken soup, or about 20 tablespoons, according to the director of a hospital treating them in northeast Ukraine.

They were supposed to be protected by the Geneva Conventions, which require humane treatment. But the prisoners’ physical condition — protruding shoulder blades and ribs, bandaged limbs, long scars — bore evidence of abuse from their months of imprisonment, in addition to injuries from combat, Jeff Stein and Kostiantyn Khudov report for The Washington Post in northeastern Ukraine.

“Tasers, currents — they beat us with clubs; they beat us with sticks. I said goodbye to my life there more than once,” said one Ukrainian fighter.

Miriam Berger in Washington and Natalia Abbakumova and Mary Ilyushina in Riga, Latvia, contributed to this report.