A prisoner exchange is currently taking place between Russia and Ukraine, as confirmed by officials from both Moscow and Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shared images of soldiers joyfully returning to Ukraine, though details about the exact number of prisoners involved remain unclear. Russia has indicated that a ‘similar number’ of prisoners of war have been returned to their side.
In a message on Telegram, Zelensky remarked, ‘The process is quite complicated, there are many sensitive details, negotiations continue virtually every day.’ He elaborated that the exchange would occur ‘in several stages’ over the next few days, highlighting that the wounded, seriously injured, and soldiers under the age of 25 are being prioritized for return.
According to Russia’s defense ministry, ‘the first group of Russian servicemen under the age of 25 were returned from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime,’ following agreements made during talks in Turkey last week. Consistent with previous exchanges, Moscow reported that the returned soldiers would receive psychological and medical support in Belarus.
On the Ukrainian front, families of prisoners of war and those missing gathered in the Chernihiv region, near the Belarus border, to welcome the freed prisoners and seek updates on others still held captive.
In a separate but related development, both sides have accused each other of hindering the planned repatriation of deceased soldiers’ bodies. In late May, both Russia and Ukraine completed a significant prisoner exchange involving 390 individuals each, marking the largest such swap since the onset of the full-scale invasion in 2022.
Amid the ongoing conflict, Russian forces launched a record 479 drones overnight against Ukraine, targeting various regions, including the western area of Rivne, which had previously avoided major attacks. The Russian defense ministry claimed these strikes were part of retaliation for Ukraine’s recent drone attacks on Russian airfields.
Despite the scale of the drone assaults causing damage across several Ukrainian territories, there have been no reported casualties from these latest strikes. In response to the escalating conflict, Kyiv has targeted another Russian airbase in the Nizhny Novgorod region, located 400 miles from the Ukrainian border, claiming damage to ‘two units of enemy aircraft.’ Additionally, Ukraine targeted an electronics factory suspected of producing components for drones and aerial bombs, with video evidence showing significant explosions and a large fire at the facility, which has since halted production.