Russia and Ukraine swaps Large Scale PoW Exchange – UAE Mediates the Latest Swap
On their 64th Prisoners of War exchange, Russia and Ukraine swapped 205 of the captives inside Russian territory on Tuesday with the United Arab Emirates brokering the exchange. The exchange is confirmed by Volodymyr Zelensky’s official X account.
The Ukraine Leader posted, “We brought them back. And I thank everyone who worked on this exchange. I thank our partners, first and foremost, the United Arab Emirates, for their mediation and assistance. I thank those who care and continue to speak about Ukrainians in captivity.”
Our people are free. Our people are home.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 6, 2025
Today, Ukraine has brought back 205 warriors. Young and older men from almost all types and branches of the Armed Forces. Defenders of Mariupol and the entire front line.
They have been scattered across many Russian regions, imprisoned… pic.twitter.com/wW8cJ981mg
Since the full scale blown up war between Ukraine and Russia, this prisoner exchange marks a total of 4,757 Ukraine PoW returning to safety. “Many defenders had been in captivity since the beginning of the full-scale invasion; some of them are seriously ill and wounded,” Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets reported in his Telegram channel.
Three Ukrainian Officers and 202 soldiers, sergeants are released among the members of Armed Forces of Ukraine, Naval Officers, Airborne Assault Forces, Air Force and other territorial and national guard service officers are returning home.
The previous exchange took place on 19 April with 277 soldiers and captives released and the one before April released 175 warriors along with a later addition of 22 defenders and 6 servicemen from the 12th Special Forces Brigade Azov were returned from captivity from Russian territory.
