Ukraine and Russia have executed another prisoner exchange under the terms of the Istanbul deal, with President Zelensky stating that soldiers from various military units are returning home. The exchange, part of a series of agreements, included severely wounded and ill prisoners of war, as well as younger soldiers. The deal also involves the repatriation of fallen soldiers’ bodies, with Russia having already returned over 6,000 bodies to Ukraine.
Most of the released soldiers had been detained in Russian captivity since 2022, with the youngest being a 24-year-old taken prisoner during the Mariupol battle. The oldest was 62. The freed soldiers had fought in multiple regions including Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Kharkiv, Sumy, and Kyiv oblasts. Among those freed were several officers, according to the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
Russia’s Defense Ministry also announced a prisoner exchange with the Ukrainian side, though without specifying the number of soldiers involved. While no major political breakthrough was achieved, both sides agreed to a phased prisoner exchange and the repatriation of fallen soldiers’ bodies. As part of the agreement, Russia pledged to return the bodies of up to 6,000 Ukrainian service members and citizens. Moscow has already handed over 6,057 bodies over several days, though Zelensky claims that at least 20 of these were actually Russian soldiers, a tactic used to obscure Russia’s military losses.
The June 2 agreements followed the largest-ever POW exchange in late May, when 1,000 prisoners were exchanged on each side. Ukraine has repeatedly called for a prisoner exchange in an all-for-all format, but Russia continues to reject such an offer. The ongoing prisoner swaps remain one of the few remaining channels of communication between the two countries amid the ongoing conflict.