Ukraine, Russia carry out first prisoner swap in months, as US touts

Kyiv – U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff announced Thursday that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to exchange 314 prisoners during the second round of U.S.-brokered peace talks between the two countries in Abu Dhabi.

Two hours later, Russia’s Defense Ministry released a video of freed prisoners of war draped in Russian flags boarding a bus in Belarus, a Russian ally that borders Ukraine and Russia, confirming the exchanges of 157 prisoners from each country.

Witkoff said the two days of trilateral talks in the UAE capital were “detailed and productive,” adding that “while significant work remains, steps like this demonstrate that sustained diplomatic engagement is yielding tangible results and advancing efforts to end the war in Ukraine.”

Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters in kyiv that trilateral talks would continue “in the near future.”

In a social media post, he said the exchange “came after a long pause, and it’s critical that we were able to make it happen,” adding his thanks to “everyone working to make these exchanges possible,” including Ukrainian soldiers, whom he appeared to praise for capturing the Russians and thus “expanding Ukraine’s exchange fund.”

“Without the determination of our warriors, such exchanges would be impossible. And therefore, every result achieved by our units is what also underpins the ability to bring Ukrainians home from Russia,” Zelenskyy said, adding that Ukraine “will continue to work to free our people from captivity.”

The prisoner swap suggests that the trilateral talks, the first round of which took place in late January, are making slow progress in specific areas where Russia and Ukraine can find common ground, leaving the most contentious issues for future discussions.

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhyi told reporters at the start of the talks that “the most delicate and complex issues, such as territorial issues,” will be left for the countries’ heads of state to discuss.

The last prisoner exchange occurred on October 2, 2025 and progress on future exchanges appeared to stall late last year, when Zelenskyy told reporters in kyiv in late January that Russia had “stopped the process” of prisoner swaps.

“They are not particularly interested in the exchange of people, because they do not feel that it brings them anything. They believe that it benefits us,” he stated then.