Ukraine, Russia Exchange 600 Prisoners in Two-Day Swap

Ukraine and Russia exchanged 300 service personnel each on Friday, completing the second day of a two-day prisoner swap involving hundreds of captives held since the early stages of the war.

The exchange marks the second prisoner-of-war swap between the two sides in 2026 and comes in the wake of recent U.S.-brokered peace talks aimed at finding a path to end the conflict.

On the first day of the swap, Thursday, Kyiv and Moscow released 200 prisoners of war each. Friday’s exchange brought the total number of prisoners released over the two days to 1,000.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said many of the returning soldiers had been captured while defending various frontline regions, including Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and the strategic city of Mariupol.

“Most of them had been in captivity for more than a year, some since 2022,” Zelenskiy said in a message posted on Telegram. He also confirmed that two Ukrainian civilians were among those returned on Friday.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said the exchange was mediated by the United States and the United Arab Emirates.

Footage shared by Zelenskiy showed dozens of Ukrainian servicemen stepping out of large white buses, smiling, waving and thanking the border guards who welcomed them home.

One of the returning soldiers, speaking on a loudspeaker through his mobile phone, told relatives: “I am alive and healthy. Everything is fine. I just don’t have teeth.”

The previous prisoner swap took place in early February following peace talks held in Abu Dhabi.

Ukraine had hoped a new round of negotiations would begin in early March. However, the talks were postponed after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran triggered retaliatory missile attacks by Tehran against Israel and several Gulf locations hosting U.S. military facilities.

Zelenskiy said earlier this week that Kyiv is awaiting a new date from Washington for the next round of negotiations.