1,000-for-1,000 Swap Completed: 303 Ukrainian POWs Return in Final Phase of Major Russia Exchange

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that 303 more Ukrainian prisoners of war have returned home as part of the final stage of a major prisoner exchange with Russia.

The swap is part of the largest prisoner exchange between the two countries since the start of the full-scale war. Under the deal, both sides agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners each, following negotiations in Turkey.

“This is the third part of the 1,000-for-1,000 exchange agreed on in Turkey,” Zelensky said in a Telegram post. “Today, soldiers from the army, National Guard, border service, and special transport service are coming home.”

He thanked the Ukrainian team who helped carry out the exchange, adding, “We will definitely bring everyone back from Russian captivity.”

The first phase of the exchange took place Friday, when Ukraine said it received 390 prisoners. On Saturday, another 307 Ukrainian POWs were released before the final group arrived Sunday.

Ukrainian officials have said that returning prisoners remains a top priority, and that the success of the deal in Turkey marks one of the few diplomatic breakthroughs between Kyiv and Moscow in recent months.

Earlier this month, on May 6, both sides swapped 205 captured soldiers in a separate deal.

“Ukraine returned 205 soldiers. Young boys and adult men from almost all types and branches of the Armed Forces. Defenders of Mariupol and defenders of the entire front line,” Zelensky wrote at the time.

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A Kyiv Post correspondent witnessed the transfer to a medical facility in a border town, capturing scenes of emotional reunions with families and the freed soldiers’ first phone calls after months in captivity.