Ukraine and Russia hold major prisoner exchange, 390 people return

Ukraine and Russia conducted a large-scale prisoner exchange, returning 390 people home.

This was reported by President Volodymyr Zelensky.

This is the first part of a large-scale exchange in the "1000 by 1000" format. The next exchanges are expected on May 24 and 25.

Among those who returned home are 270 military personnel and 120 civilians, the Coordination Center notes.

In particular, servicemen of the Navy, the State Border Guard, the Territorial Defense Forces, as well as the National Guard and the State Border Service of Ukraine are returning to their homeland.

The liberated defenders defended Ukraine in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, and Kherson directions, and also participated in battles in the Chernihiv, Sumy, and Kyiv regions.

Among those released today are three women and 387 men.

Those released from Russian captivity will undergo a medical examination, receive assistance with physical and psychological rehabilitation, all due payments for the entire time they were in captivity, and be reintegrated into society.

Russian media reported that as a result of the exchange, 270 military personnel and 120 civilians returned to the Russian Federation — presumably collaborators.

• Agreements on the simultaneous release and transfer of prisoners in the "1000 by 1000" format were reached on May 16 at a meeting of the delegations of Ukraine and the Russian Federation in Istanbul.
• The last exchange to date took place on May 6, when 205 servicemen returned home. In total, 5 147 Ukrainian citizens have been released since March 2022.

For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine, please follow us on X.