Russia, Ukraine swap 372 prisoners of war as US president says efforts to negotiate ceasefire are ‘very much on track’.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged 372 prisoners of war in a swap brokered by the United Arab Emirates, as US President Donald Trump said he held a “very good” phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Russian Defence Ministry announced on Wednesday that Moscow returned 175 soldiers and “22 seriously wounded prisoners of war in need of urgent medical assistance” in what it said was a “gesture of goodwill.” It said that Kyiv returned 175 Russian troops.
Zelenskyy confirmed the swap and wrote on X that it was “one of the largest” exchanges since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“I thank our team for their important work in finding Ukrainian prisoners of war and facilitating exchanges, as well as for the results that bring hope. We are also grateful to all our partners, especially the United Arab Emirates, for making today’s exchange possible,” the Ukrainian leader added.
The exchange comes as Trump and Zelenskyy held a phone call, a day after the US president held a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as he seeks to broker a truce in the war.
In a social media post after the talks, Trump said that he held a “very good” call with Zelenskyy and that efforts towards negotiating a ceasefire in Russia’s invasion are “very much on track”.
The purpose of the call was to “align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs”, Trump added, saying he asked US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz to provide further details of the conversation in a forthcoming statement.
During Trump’s discussion with Putin on Tuesday, the Russian leader agreed not to target energy infrastructure but refused to back a full 30-day ceasefire.
Prior to his call with Trump, Zelenskyy said that Putin’s vow was “very much at odds with reality” following an overnight barrage of Russian drone strikes across Ukraine.
“Even last night, after Putin’s conversation with … Trump, when Putin said that he was allegedly giving orders to stop strikes on Ukrainian energy, there were 150 drones launched overnight, including on energy facilities,” Zelenskyy said at a news conference in Helsinki with Finnish President Alexander Stubb.
Dozens of attacks
The Ukrainian military said Russia launched 145 drones, and air defences downed 72 of them.
Ukraine’s Defence Ministry reported that one person was killed and two hospitals were damaged during the Russian strikes that also took out power to some of the country’s railways.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its air defences destroyed 57 Ukrainian drones.
In the southern Russian region of Krasnodar, authorities said a Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire at an oil depot near the village of Kavkazskaya, and no one was injured.