President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said in an interview with the Associated Press that the exchange of prisoners of war with Russia continues, and often it does not happen publicly, but sometimes right on the battlefield.
"We are changing. We fill our exchange fund [with Russians] and then the exchanges happen. Very often we exchange prisoners of war not so loudly, not so publicly. I will say frankly — we exchange right on the battlefield. When we have 10 of their prisoners, and they have several of our men — and we exchange [...]. There are exchanges, and not only global, but also on the spot. The commanders have orders for all this, and they know what to do," the state leader said.
He clarified that over the past six months, Ukraine has returned about 100 soldiers from captivity, and several thousand since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Several thousand more are still in captivity.
- In November, Petro Yatsenko, a representative of the Coordination Staff for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, stated that the Russian side suspended the exchange of prisoners of war in order to influence Ukrainian society and create the impression that the authorities are not dealing with this issue.
- The last public exchange took place on August 7, 2023. Then Ukraine managed to return 22 soldiers.
- The General Directorate of Intelligence said that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion , almost 2,600 military and civilians have been returned from Russian captivity.
- On November 30, ombudsmen of Ukraine and Russia simultaneously visited 119 captured servicemen of both countries.