Russia and Ukraine have conducted the largest prisoner exchange since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, with each country returning 390 individuals.
The exchange included 270 servicemen and 120 civilians from both sides which took place at the Ukrainian border with Belarus.
The swap was the result of direct talks held in Istanbul a week earlier. It is part of a broader agreement involving 1,000 prisoners, with both sides confirming additional exchanges would follow.
Although there have been dozens of smaller-scale exchanges, no other handover has involved as many civilians.
According to Russia’s Ministry of Defence, those released included individuals captured during recent Ukrainian operations in Russia’s Kursk region. The freed Russians were transferred to Belarus for medical evaluation before returning home.
They were currently on Belarusian territory and were to be taken to Russia for medical checks and treatment, the ministry said.
“We are bringing our people home,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on social media.
“We are verifying every surname, every detail about each person.”
Ukraine’s coordination headquarters for prisoners of war said the released Ukrainian soldiers had served in regions across northern and eastern Ukraine, including Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Kherson. Three of the Ukrainian returnees were women.
US President Donald Trump earlier posted his congratulations on his Truth Social platform, claiming that the swap was complete and that “this could lead to something big???.”
Families of Ukrainian prisoners gathered in northern Ukraine on Friday, hoping their relatives were among those released..
Natalia, whose son Yelizar was captured during the battle for the city of Severodonetsk three years ago, said she believed he would return, but did not know when.
Olha said that since her son Valerii had been captured with five other soldiers in the east, her life had stopped, as she did not know if they were still alive.
“They were captured two months ago in Luhansk. They went missing in a village.
The Turkey meeting marked the first direct talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations since March 2022. Although the meeting lasted only two hours and did not result in progress toward a ceasefire.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that there would be a second round of talks, when Moscow would hand a “memorandum” to the Ukrainian side.
Trump said earlier this week that Russia and Ukraine would “immediately” start negotiating towards a ceasefire and an end to the war, after a two-hour phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Since then, Zelensky has accused Putin of “trying to buy time” to continue the war.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has backed a suggestion from Trump that the Vatican might mediate talks on negotiating a ceasefire, but Lavrov said that was “not a very realistic option.”
The Russian foreign minister repeated an unfounded claim that Zelensky was not a legitimate leader and suggested new elections should be held before a potential future peace agreement is signed.
Asked if Russia was ready to sign a deal, Lavrov said, “First we need to have a deal. And when it’s agreed, then we will decide. But, as President Putin has said many times, President Zelensky does not have legitimacy.”
He said after an agreement was ready, Russia would “see who out of those in power in Ukraine has legitimacy.”
“The key task now is to prepare a peace agreement which will be reliable and provide a long-term, stable and fair peace without creating security threats for anyone. In our case, we’re concerned with Russia.”
Erizia Rubyjeana
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