Russia and Ukraine release 500 POWs each in largest prisoner exchange since May

Ukraine and Russia completed a two-day exchange of prisoners of war on Friday morning, which saw a total of 1,000 servicemen released and repatriated, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Telegram.

The exchange, which saw 200 POWs released by each side on Thursday, followed by another 300 POWs on Friday, was reportedly agreed during the last round of US-brokered peace talks in Geneva last month and was the largest since a total of 2,000 prisoners of war were released by the two countries in May.

Russia’s chief negotiator at the Geneva talks, Vladimir Medinsky, confirmed in a Telegram post on Thursday that 500 Russian POWs would be successfully returned by Ukraine to Russia, adding that the main thing was “that our people will return.”

Confirming that the second part of the swap had taken place on Friday morning, Zelensky added that two Ukrainian civilians had also been handed over by the Russian authorities.

Irina Krynina, coordinator of the Russian prisoner of war advocacy group Nash Vykhod, told Novaya Gazeta Europe that “many of these soldiers may face disappointment upon their return to Russia.”

“Instead of going home, they will be sent to barracks outside Moscow, before being returned to their units on the front,” she explained, adding that Nash Vykhod has been contacted by hundreds of Russians whose loved ones were exchanged in prisoner swaps, before being immediately redeployed to fight in Ukraine.

Citing data provided by the Ukrainian-run project I Want to Find, which helps relatives to locate Russian soldiers in Ukraine, Krynina said that 54% of the soldiers returned to Russia on Friday were captured in 2025, and a further 43% in 2024, and that the average age of the Russian soldiers involved in the exchange was 45.