Russia, Ukraine begin prisoner exchange, biggest since war
Ukraine and Russia have swapped hundreds of prisoners as part of a major exchange agreement, which if fully implemented would be the biggest since the war in Ukraine began in 2022.
Under the agreement reached at direct talks in Turkey last week, Moscow and Kiev are expected to exchange 1,000 each.
On Friday, both sides received 390 people as part of the first stage of the agreement, as the process will last three days.
"The first stage of the '1,000-for-1,000' exchange agreement has been carried out," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on social media platform X.
"Today – 390 people. On Saturday and Sunday, we expect the exchange to continue," he added.
Russia said it had received 270 Russian troops and 120 civilians, including some from parts of the Kursk region that were held by Ukrainian forces for months before Moscow recaptured it.
The two sides have held regular swaps since the war began in 2022, but none have been of this scale.
US President Donald Trump, who pledged to rapidly end the fighting, earlier congratulated the two countries for the swap.
"This could lead to something big???" he wrote in a post on Truth Social.
That’s while his efforts to broker a ceasefire in Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II have thus far been unsuccessful.
In February 2022, Russia launched what it called a special military operation in Ukraine partly to prevent NATO’s eastward expansion after warning that the military alliance was following an “aggressive line” against Moscow.
The Western countries have been fueling the flames of the war with their unchecked delivery of weapons to Ukraine.
Moscow has repeatedly warned that such a flow of weapons to Kiev will only prolong the conflict.
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