Ukraine and Russia Begin Largest Exchange of Prisoners of War

Russia and Ukraine began their largest exchange of prisoners of war on Friday, with each side returning 390 soldiers and civilians, according to both governments. More swaps were expected on Saturday and Sunday, as the two countries have committed to exchange 1,000 prisoners each.

“We are bringing our people home. The first part of the agreement to exchange 1000 for 1000 has been implemented,” President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine wrote in a post on social media. He included pictures of Ukrainians who had been returned, most of them men with shaven heads and thin frames, their shoulders draped in Ukrainian flags.

Russia’s defense ministry said that 270 of its soldiers and 120 civilians had been turned over in Belarus, before being transported to Russia. Ukraine’s military leadership said the same figures applied to the Ukrainians who were returned.

The exchange was agreed upon at negotiations in Istanbul last week, the first time the two sides have engaged in direct talks since the early months of the war.

On Friday, hundreds of families gathered at a site in northeastern Chernihiv region of Ukraine to wait for the arrival of the first group of freed prisoners. Many of the family members had wrapped themselves in blue and gold Ukrainian flags and were carrying pictures of their loved ones, hoping that they would be included in the exchange.

Before the buses carrying returnees arrived, an ambulance raced one of them to a hospital, where scores of doctors waited to provide medical care to the former captives.