Ukraine, Russia Swap Hundreds of War Prisoners in 2nd Leg of Biggest Exchange

At a May 16 meeting in Turkey, Russian and Ukrainian representatives agreed each side would release 1,000 prisoners in the largest exchange of the ongoing war.

Ukrainian prisoners of war disembark from a bus after being released after months in a Russian prison in Chernihiv, Ukraine, on May 24, 2025. Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

Russia and Ukraine swapped 307 of their prisoners on May 24, as part of a larger multi-day exchange.

The prisoner swap came the day after both countries released 390 of their prisoners of war. During a face-to-face meeting in Turkey last week, representatives from the two warring countries reached an agreement for each side to release 1,000 of the prisoners they’ve taken during more than three years of fighting.

“Today is the second day of the 1,000-for-1,000 exchange that we managed to negotiate in Türkiye. In just these two days, 697 people have been brought home. We expect the process to continue tomorrow,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote in a post on social media platform X, alongside photos of some of the returned Ukrainian troops.

In a separate press statement, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the released Russian troops had been transferred from Ukrainian custody to Belarus for an initial medical and psychological evaluation before they would return to their home country for further treatment and rehabilitation.

“The large-scale exchange initiated by the Russian side will continue,” Russia’s Defense Ministry added.

This multi-day exchange is the largest prisoner swap since the war broke out in February 2022, and a result of the first round of direct talks between Ukrainian and Russian representatives since March of 2022.

The prisoner exchange comes as a sign of progress in what has otherwise been a grinding effort to reach a lasting cease-fire and a peaceful resolution to the war.

Following the Russia–Ukraine talks in Turkey, both sides agreed to prepare proposals for how a cease-fire could proceed.

On May 23, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that Moscow would close out the prisoner exchange before putting forward its ideas for a cease-fire.

“As soon as the exchange of prisoners of war is over, by that time we will be ready to hand over to the Ukrainian side a draft of this document, which the Russian side is now finalizing,” Lavrov said, according to Russian state-run news agency TASS.

Both sides have expressed interest in some cease-fire arrangements, but they haven’t been on the same page about when they should pause the fighting, and for how long the pause should last.

Ahead of last week’s Russia–Ukraine talks in Istanbul, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there would be no breakthrough in a cease-fire unless Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump interact directly.

Trump did speak by phone with Putin and then Zelenskyy on May 19. Following that call, Trump announced that both sides had agreed to immediately renew cease-fire talks.

Ahead of the May 24 prisoner swap, Ukrainian authorities reported a heavy overnight Russian drone and missile attack. Zelenskyy, in an X post, wrote that Russian forces launched some 250 strike drones and 14 ballistic missiles overnight, causing damage to Ukraine’s Odesa, Vinnytsia, Sumy, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Kyiv, and Dnipro regions.

“With each such attack, the world becomes more certain that the cause of prolonging the war lies in Moscow. Ukraine has proposed a ceasefire many times — both a full one and one in the skies. It all has been ignored,” Zelenskyy wrote.

The Ukrainian leader said he awaits new sanctions on Russia from the United States, Europe, and Kyiv’s other international backers.

Chris Summers contributed to this report.