Russia, Ukraine conduct another round of POWs exchange

Al Jazeera

14-06-2025

Ukraine and Russia have swapped prisoners of war (POWs), the warring sides said, after Moscow also handed over the bodies of 1,200 Ukrainian soldiers to Kyiv.
'We continue to take our people out of Russian captivity. This is the fourth exchange in a week,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on social media on Saturday.
The Russian Ministry of Defence posted on Telegram that another group of Russian servicemen was returned 'from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime' in accordance with the agreements reached by the two sides in Istanbul earlier this month.
Photos published by Zelenskyy on Telegram showed men of various ages, mostly with shaved heads, wearing camouflage and draped in Ukrainian flags.
Some were injured, others disembarked from buses and hugged those welcoming them, or were seen calling someone by phone, sometimes covering their faces or smiling.
Moscow's Defence Ministry released its own video showing men in uniforms holding Russian flags, clapping and chanting 'Russia, Russia', 'Glory to Russia' and 'Hooray', some raising their fists in the air.
The Russian soldiers are in Belarus, where they are receiving medical treatment before being transferred back to Russia, the Defence Ministry said. The ministry did not say how many POWs were involved in the latest swap.
However, Russian state media reported, citing sources, that Moscow had not received any of its war dead back from Kyiv, echoing a statement Russia made on Friday when it said it had returned the bodies of 1,200 slain Ukrainian soldiers and received none of its own.
Ukraine earlier on Saturday confirmed it had received the bodies of its soldiers killed in action.
The latest POW exchange between Russia and Ukraine came after Moscow alleged that Kyiv had indefinitely postponed the swap of wounded and seriously ill POWs and those under the age of 25, as well as the return of the bodies of thousands of soldiers on each side.
The swap came as Russia intensified its offensive along the front line, especially in the northeastern Sumy region, where it seeks to establish a 'buffer zone'. Zelenskyy claimed Russia's advance on Sumy was stopped, adding that Kyiv's forces have managed to retake one village.
Meanwhile, the two sides are no closer to any temporary ceasefire agreement as a concrete step towards ending the war despite some initial momentum from the United States President Donald Trump who now appears to be losing patience in his campaign for a truce, even suggesting the two be left to fight longer, like 'children in a park', before they are pulled apart.