Ukraine and Russia are conducting another exchange of 185 prisoners of war each

Ukraine and Russia announced on Friday that they had carried out a new exchange of prisoners of war, allowing the return of 185 soldiers from each side.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky indicated that the majority of the released Ukrainian soldiers had been held in Russia since 2022, i.e. since the early months of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Images released after the exchange show Ukrainian soldiers getting off buses at a secret location, greeted by authorities and their families. Several of them had spent more than four years in captivity.

Russian authorities also confirmed the return of 185 Russian troops as part of the operation. As with previous exchanges, negotiations continued despite the lack of significant progress in discussions aimed at ending the conflict.

Prisoner exchanges remain one of the few areas where Ukraine and Russia have continued to cooperate since the beginning of the war. Several thousand prisoners have already been exchanged in recent years thanks to international mediation and ad hoc agreements between the two sides.

This exchange comes amid continued intense fighting on the front lines and while diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire remain stalled. The two countries nevertheless continue to regularly conduct humanitarian operations concerning prisoners of war and the repatriation of the remains of soldiers killed in action.