Russia and Ukraine conduct new POW swap – MOD (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
Russia and Ukraine exchanged more prisoners of war on Thursday, with 84 captives swapped on each side, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has announced.
The Russian servicemen involved in the swap are receiving psychological and medical assistance in Belarus and will soon be sent home for treatment and rehabilitation, the ministry said.
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky confirmed the exchange, writing on social media that 84 Ukrainian POWs were released.
Russia and Ukraine have carried out a series of swaps since Kiev’s return to direct talks this year. Following the third round of peace negotiations in Türkiye last month, Moscow’s chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, said Russia had proposed a new swap involving at least 1,200 POWs from each side. He later accused Kiev of stalling the exchange, saying it refused to take back around 1,000 of its soldiers held by Russia.
Earlier this month, RT launched a website listing about 1,000 Ukrainian citizens abandoned by Zelensky’s administration, despite its claims to seek “all-for-all” prisoner swaps. The POWs told RT their names had been repeatedly removed from exchange lists, questioning whether they were really needed in Ukraine.
Russia has submitted all 1,000 names for previous POW swaps, but Kiev reportedly rejected them.
In response, the group sent a collective petition to Zelensky demanding inclusion in future exchanges, with all the captives signing their names, call signs, and ranks.
Commenting on the latest swap, Medinsky wrote on Telegram that Ukraine accepted only two captured soldiers from the list, naming both men.
The exchange comes ahead of Friday’s summit in Alaska between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, which will focus on settling the Ukraine conflict.
