More Ukrainian POWs Return Home in Ongoing Russia Swap Deal

An exchange of an unspecified number of prisoners between Ukraine and Russia happened Thursday afternoon, June 26, Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for Prisoner of War Affairs reported.

This was the seventh swap following an agreement made during negotiations held in Istanbul on June 2. The released Ukrainians included servicemen from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, National Guard, and State Border Guard Service.

The majority of those released were under 25, despite many of them having been held in captivity since 2022. The exact number of those returned will only be announced after the entire process is completed for security reasons, a spokesperson said.

Those released included military officers as well more Mariupol defenders and National Guardsmen who had been taken from the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the early months of the war, the youngest of whom is 24 years old – who had been held since May 2022 – the oldest being 62.

The June 2 agreement included a methodology for making the exchanges and the repatriation of 6,000 fallen soldiers from both sides.

Despite Russia announcing an indefinite postponement of the agreed exchanges on June 7 because of “Ukrainian intransigence” the first exchange took place on June 9, with subsequent releases on June 10, 12, 14, 19, and 20 – which included severely wounded and seriously ill prisoners, some suffering from gangrene and from untreated wounds and tuberculosis.

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The spokesperson said medical aid is being provided to the severely ill and wounded soldiers who have returned home.

A total of 6,057 bodies of deceased Ukrainian servicemen were returned by Moscow between June 11 and 16, although there are concerns that as many as 20 Russian corpses had been included in those returned as Ukrainians – either intentionally or otherwise.

There has been much comment in the Ukrainian and international media on the marked difference in the physical condition of those returned by both sides. While Russian POWs seemed physically fit, well fed, and the wounded having received medical treatment, the Ukrainian prisoners looked malnourished, and there was evidence that their wounds had been ignored, along with accusations of many having been subjected to systematic and widespread torture, including sexual violence.

Earlier on Thursday, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that once all of the exchanges agreed during the second round of Istanbul negotiation are completed, discussions on the timings of a third round of meetings can begin.