Trump lauds 'major' prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia

Aliaksandr Kudrytski and Moira Warburton, Bloomberg News on May 23, 2025

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U.S. President Donald Trump said Russia and Ukraine had carried out a “major” prisoner swap, lauding the move as a sign of progress as his efforts to broker an agreement to end the war have faltered.

“Congratulations to both sides on this negotiation,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Friday, adding that the swap will go into effect “shortly.” He added: “This could lead to something big???”

The Defense Ministry in Moscow confirmed the swap had started, saying it had transferred 270 Ukrainian soldiers and 120 civilians to officials in Ukraine in return for the same numbers of Russian servicemen and civilians. The “large-scale exchange” is planned to continue in the coming days, the ministry said on Telegram.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said that 390 people had returned from captivity in Russia. The exchanges are expected to continue on Saturday and Sunday, he said on Telegram.

The two sides agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners each in Istanbul last week in their first direct talks in more than three years, which would be the biggest swap of the war — the only tangible results of the meeting.

Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t attend the Turkey talks, instead sending a low-level delegation — a move that was criticized by Ukraine and European allies, who accused the Kremlin of dragging its feet and standing by maximalist demands before agreeing to a ceasefire.

Trump subsequently held a phone call with Putin, after which he said the effort to reach a ceasefire agreement would lie with Moscow and Kyiv, prompting worries from Ukraine’s allies that the U.S. president was withdrawing from a mediating role.

As uncertainty lingers over U.S. support, Russia’s grinding advance in eastern Ukraine has slowed down and comes at the cost of large losses of personnel.

More than 4,700 Ukrainian citizens have been freed from Russian captivity over the course of the war so far, according to data from Kyiv’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of POWs.

Talks over a current swap was preceded by a major exchange of bodies from the frontlines last week, serving as a grim reminder of the war’s human toll. In total, Ukraine has repatriated almost 10,000 bodies of its fallen soldiers from territories now under Russia’s control, according to the coordination headquarters’ data.