President Vladimir Putin had previously agreed to swap 175 prisoners and return 22 heavily wounded Ukrainian fighters as a gesture of good will
Russia and Ukraine have conducted a prisoner-of-war (POW) swap following recent truce negotiations between President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported on Wednesday that 175 soldiers had been returned from territories controlled by Kiev. In exchange, Moscow had sent back an equal number of captured Ukrainian troops, as well as 22 heavily injured servicemen, as a sign of good will.
The ministry added that the exchange was mediated by the United Arab Emirates and that the released Russian soldiers are currently in neighboring Belarus. It added that they will soon be transferred to their home county for treatment and rehabilitation.
The POW swap was announced on Tuesday following a phone call between Trump and Putin. After the nearly 2.5-hour conversation, the Kremlin said Russia would suspend strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure for 30 days and declared that Moscow and Kiev would conduct a prisoner exchange.
The last time Russia and Ukraine exchanged POWs was in October 2024, when each side released 95 captives. Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, the two countries have held a total of 59 prisoner swaps.
During their phone call on Tuesday, both Trump and Putin agreed on the need to achieve a lasting peace in the Ukraine conflict and committed to work towards finding a resolution to the crisis.
Trump had previously proposed establishing a 30-day ceasefire, although Russia has stressed that implementing such a measure would require a number of issues to be addressed beforehand, such as the monitoring of the truce and guarantees that Kiev would not use it to rearm its military and refill its ranks.
Additionally, Moscow has stressed the need to eliminate the “root causes of the crisis” and meet “Russia’s legitimate interests in the area of security” before a truce can be established. The Kremlin has also indicated a need for the complete cessation of foreign military aid and provision of intelligence information to Kiev as a key requirement to achieve a complete ceasefire.
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