Russia and Ukraine say a major prisoner swap has begun

A major prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine has begun, the countries said, in one of the few signs of progress from their direct talks last week in Istanbul.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the first phase of the exchange was bringing home 390 Ukrainians, with further releases expected over the weekend.

“It’s very important to bring everyone home,” he wrote on Telegram, thanking all who worked to secure their return and pledging to continue diplomatic efforts to make more exchanges possible.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said each side had released 270 military personnel and 120 civilian detainees. The exchange is “planned to continue in coming days,” it said.

In Turkey last week, Ukraine and Russia agreed to the exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each side in their first direct peace talks since the early weeks of Moscow’s 2022 invasion.

That meeting lasted only two hours and brought no breakthrough in efforts to stop the fighting.

The swap was taking place at the border with Belarus in northern Ukraine, according to a Ukrainian official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly.

The released Russians were taken to Belarus for medical treatment, the Russian Defence Ministry said.

The exchange, which also would be the biggest swap of Ukrainian civilians at one time, did not appear to herald any halt in fighting.

Russia launched two ballistic missiles at infrastructure in the southern Ukrainian port of Odesa, killing one worker and injuring eight others – four critically, according to regional governor Oleh Kiper.

It was the first recorded attack on the port since March 11.

Fighting continues along the 620-mile front line, where tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed, and neither country has relented in its deep strikes.

News of the prisoner release emerged when US president Donald Trump said Russia and Ukraine had carried out a large exchange.

“A major prisoners swap was just completed between Russia and Ukraine,” Mr Trump said on the Truth Social platform. He said it would “go into effect shortly.”

He added in the post that “this could lead to something big???” — apparently referring to other diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting.

After the May 16 talks, Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan called the prisoner swap a “confidence-building measure” and said the parties had agreed in principle to meet again.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that there has been no agreement yet on the venue for the next round of talks as diplomatic manoeuvering continued.

European leaders have accused Russian president Vladimir Putin of dragging his feet in peace efforts while he tries to press his larger army’s battlefield initiative and capture more Ukrainian land.

The Istanbul meeting revealed both sides clearly remained far apart on key conditions for ending the fighting. One such condition for Ukraine, backed by its Western allies, is a temporary ceasefire as a first step toward a peaceful settlement.

The Kremlin has pushed back on a temporary halt to hostilities, and Mr Putin has said any such truce must come with a freeze on Western arms supplies to Ukraine and an end to Ukraine’s mobilisation drive.

A senior Ukrainian official said in Istanbul that Russia had introduced new, “unacceptable demands” to withdraw Ukrainian forces from huge swaths of territory.

The official, who was not authorised to make official statements, spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. The proposal had not been previously discussed, the official said.

Mr Putin has long demanded as a key condition for a peace deal that Ukraine withdraw its troops from the four regions that Russia annexed in September 2022 but never fully controlled.

Mr Zelensky has warned that if Russia continues to reject a ceasefire and make “unrealistic demands,” it will signal deliberate efforts to prolong the war — a move that should bring tougher international sanctions.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had shot down 788 Ukrainian drones away from the battlefield between May 20-23.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired 175 Shahed and decoy drones, as well as a ballistic missile since late Thursday.