LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – Ukraine and Russia carried out their 75th prisoner of war exchange on Friday, with each side releasing 185 service personnel in a swap conducted with humanitarian support from the United States and the United Arab Emirates — the only tangible sign of progress in a conflict where broader peace negotiations remain deeply deadlocked.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the exchange on social media, noting that the majority of the Ukrainians returning home had been held in Russian captivity since 2022, the year Moscow launched its full-scale invasion. Among those released was one civilian, he added, along with a serviceman who had participated in a helicopter operation to deliver weapons, medicine and reinforcements to the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol — flying at low altitude deep behind Russian lines before being captured.
The youngest of those released is 26 years old, the oldest 62.
Russia’s Defence Ministry confirmed that 185 Russian servicemen had been returned from Ukrainian-controlled territory, stating that the personnel were now in Belarus, where they are receiving psychological and medical assistance.
The ministry described the exchange as having been carried out in accordance with an existing agreement between the two sides.
Friday’s swap is the second under a broader arrangement committing both countries to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each, a framework established as part of a three-day ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States in early May.
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The first exchange under that arrangement took place on May 15, when both sides released 205 prisoners each. The cumulative total returned under the current agreement now stands at 390 on each side, with the remaining releases expected to follow in subsequent rounds.
The United Arab Emirates, which has quietly positioned itself as one of the few parties trusted by both Kyiv and Moscow, played a central mediating role in Friday’s exchange.
Abu Dhabi’s diplomatic engagement in the Ukraine conflict reflects a broader foreign policy approach that has seen the Gulf state serve as an intermediary in multiple international disputes, leveraging its relationships across geopolitical divides to sustain channels of communication that would otherwise remain closed.
The exchange took place against a backdrop of continued military escalation. Earlier this week, Russia launched one of its largest aerial attacks on Ukraine in months, firing hundreds of drones and missiles at Kyiv and other cities, killing dozens of civilians and destroying residential infrastructure.
Zelenskyy and Western leaders condemned the strikes as evidence that Moscow was not negotiating in good faith, even as the prisoner swap proceeded.
Ukraine returned a record 2,310 of its captured personnel from Russian captivity throughout 2025, through a series of exchanges conducted across multiple rounds of diplomacy.
Kyiv’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War has described the acceleration of exchanges as a central policy priority, with officials emphasising that the mandate from President Zelenskyy is the fastest possible return of every individual still in captivity.
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For the families of those still held, each exchange brings a measure of relief but also a reminder of how many remain unaccounted for.
Ukrainian officials estimate that several thousand service members are still being held in Russian detention facilities, with concerns raised by international human rights organisations over conditions of captivity, access to medical care and compliance with the Geneva Conventions.
Analysts and international observers have described the prisoner exchanges as the most significant humanitarian outcome of the current diplomatic process, while cautioning that they do not represent movement toward a negotiated end to the conflict.
The fundamental disagreements between Kyiv and Moscow over territorial control, security guarantees and the legal status of Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories remain unresolved, and there are no confirmed plans for a new round of substantive peace talks in the immediate term.
