Russia and Ukraine exchanged 270 prisoners each on Friday, the first large-scale swap in two months and another product of the prisoner process the Trump administration set in motion earlier this year. The exchange was the third stage of a combined process that began on August 19 under a deal brokered by the Trump administration in May, which is expected to bring home 2,000 prisoners of war in total, and it followed talks with U.S. negotiators earlier this week.
The American role ran through the week. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he spoke on Friday with U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff after their meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier in the week, and negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States have agreed to meet at a technical level in Abu Dhabi in the first half of November. Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War publicly thanked Washington for making Friday's release possible.
"We express our gratitude to the United States of America and the United Arab Emirates, and in particular, we thank everyone who contributed to the release of Stephen Hubbard — a 74-year-old English teacher from Izium who was unlawfully convicted and subjected to torture by the Russians."
Ukraine brought home 261 servicemen and nine civilians. Most of the soldiers had been in Russian captivity since 2022, and most of them had defended Mariupol in the first months of the invasion. The returnees included National Guard troops — among them Azov fighters — border guards, Territorial Defense Forces, the Navy, Ground Forces, Air Assault Forces and the State Special Transport Service. Nine of the freed servicemen are seriously ill, some of the men had been captured as far back as 2018 and 2020, and a significant number had been illegally sentenced in Russia, some of them to life imprisonment.
Among those who came home were five men who survived the July 2022 attack on the Olenivka detention facility, where dozens of Ukrainian prisoners were killed. Ukraine has always accused Russia of carrying out the attack as a war crime; Russia has blamed Ukraine for firing on the camp, and there has never been an agreed account. Zelenskiy's first announcement said the five had been believed killed; his post was later corrected to make clear they were survivors of the attack who had been held ever since.
Russia's Defence Ministry said its freed servicemen were in Belarus receiving medical and psychological assistance before being transported on to Russia, and it released video of the men boarding a bus, smiling, clapping and shouting "Hurrah!" Moscow credited the United Arab Emirates with humanitarian mediation in the exchange, and the handover took place at the border between Belarus and Ukraine. Separately, Russian human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova said Ukraine handed over seven Russian civilians who could now be reunited with their families, part of a family-reunification effort run alongside the swap with the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The last large-scale exchange was on August 19, when 103 Ukrainians were returned, with another 10 brought back later that month. Friday's swap — 540 people in a single day — was the biggest movement since, and both sides say the process is not finished. Zelenskiy closed his announcement with the promise Kyiv repeats after every exchange: "We remember one and all and continue searching for everyone."