Amid ongoing diplomatic meetings between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, Russia and Ukraine have carried out a prisoner swap, with each side releasing 84 individuals.
The exchange is the latest in a series of swaps that have seen hundreds of prisoners of war (POWs) returned so far this year.
The swap came just ahead of a high-level summit in Alaska between the two leaders on Friday.
“I’m back in my homeland. Honestly, I never thought this would happen,” said Mykyta Kaliberda, a 29-year-old Ukrainian marine who was released, speaking to AFP.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky highlighted that the released prisoners included both military personnel and civilians, some held since 2014, 2016, and 2017.
Among them were defenders of Mariupol, the Ukrainian port city that fell to Russian forces in 2022 following a nearly three-month siege.
Families of returning soldiers expressed overwhelming relief. Tetiana Turkoman, mother of a soldier captured during Mariupol’s fall, said her son had been in captivity for more than three years.
“Thank God, we awaited him,” she said, adding that she had a “feeling” he would be released and decided to come witness the exchange.
Anastasia, whose husband Artur Ivanik was also among those freed, described the emotional reunion:
“I don’t know how many times I’ve been to the exchanges, hoping that my husband will be there. Artur! Artur Ivanik! My God!”
The Russian Defence Ministry stated that the United Arab Emirates had mediated the swap and confirmed that returning Russian personnel were receiving psychological and medical support.
Large-scale prisoner exchanges have been among the few tangible outcomes of three rounds of peace talks held in Istanbul between Russian and Ukrainian delegations from May to July.
In the last round of negotiations, both countries agreed to exchange 1,200 POWs each, with Russia also offering the bodies of 3,000 soldiers killed during the conflict.
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