Russia, Ukraine Reach Agreement on Largest Prisoner Exchange of War
and reportedly reached an agreement in Istanbul on Friday to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each. This would be the largest prisoner exchange since the conflict began.
The negotiations, lasting under two hours and facilitated by Turkey, represent the first direct peace talks between the two nations since the start of the war.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who headed Ukraine’s delegation, informed journalists about the agreement after the meeting. He added that both sides also discussed a potential cease-fire and a meeting between the two countries’ presidents. Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation and a presidential aide, also confirmed the prisoner swap agreement to Russian state media.
Prior to the talks, both countries made significant efforts to demonstrate their willingness to engage in direct discussions to U.S. President Donald Trump, who has been advocating for an end to the war.
On Thursday, Vladimir Putin declined Volodymyr Zelensky’s offer for a face-to-face meeting in Turkey. While Zelensky arrived in Ankara, the Russian delegation attended without Putin.
Zelensky responded by accusing Russia of sending a “sham” delegation of lower-level officials, suggesting a lack of genuine commitment to ending the war. Medinsky, leading the Russian delegation, is a former culture minister without military or intelligence experience and limited influence within Putin’s inner circle.
The U.S. and Europe had previously proposed a 30-day ceasefire, which Ukraine accepted. However, Putin has rejected this proposal, demanding that a list of his conditions be met first.
While Trump initially supported the peace talks, he stated on Thursday that substantial progress was unlikely until he met with Putin. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, echoing Trump’s sentiments, was present in Istanbul on Friday. American officials engaged with both Ukrainian and Russian delegations separately, but Rubio did not participate in the direct peace talks.
For Zelensky, prisoner swaps like the one discussed in Istanbul have sometimes served as a way to build trust with Russia and assess their intentions. Upon taking office in 2019, with Ukraine already five years into a war with Russia over its eastern regions, Zelensky aimed to reach a settlement with Putin to avert a larger conflict.
During their initial phone call that spring, the two presidents agreed to a prisoner exchange. “As you can see, we don’t just talk, we have results,” Zelensky stated after meeting the returning prisoners at Kyiv airport. These exchanges continued even after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. In fact, the prisoner exchange channel has been the only consistently open diplomatic line between the warring parties.
“The president has set a goal of returning everyone as soon as possible,” said his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, who oversaw the negotiations.
Yermak told TIME that these negotiations could be difficult, involving arguments over names and the relative importance of those held. Final approval from the Russian side often required Putin’s sign-off, and he could cancel an exchange even after months of talks. “These swaps were always on the edge,” Yermak said. “Always hanging by a thread.”
Nevertheless, Putin has shown a willingness to repatriate even highly valued prisoners to Ukraine. In the spring of 2022, Russian forces trapped a large group of Ukrainians inside the Azovstal steel factory. The plant’s defenders resisted for over a month despite severe shortages of food, water, ammunition, and other supplies. Following their surrender that May, the Russians claimed to have taken over 2,000 Ukrainians hostage at Azovstal.
According to human rights groups and medical professionals who examined them after their release, many of these prisoners were systematically beaten and tortured in Russian prison camps. In July 2022, over 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war died in an explosion at the Olenivka prison camp, adding urgency to Ukrainian efforts to bring the remaining prisoners home. Russian officials promised to try the Azovstal commanders, and Zelensky feared their execution.
However, the two sides continued to negotiate their release through military and diplomatic channels. In September 2022, the Kremlin agreed to release all the top Azovstal commanders in exchange for 55 captives held by Ukraine, in what was then the largest swap of the war.
The terms of the recent swap, agreed upon in Istanbul this week, would make it the largest to date. However, there is no guarantee that it will advance the broader peace process. Previous exchanges have occurred during periods of intense fighting, treated by both sides as a practical necessity rather than a goodwill gesture. For instance, the exchange involving the Azovstal commanders took place during a major Ukrainian counteroffensive that forced the Russians to withdraw from the Kharkiv region in September 2022. Shortly after that swap, Putin announced plans to mobilize around 300,000 troops, indicating his intention to continue the war.
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