Russia and Ukraine swap hundreds of prisoners
Oct 03, 2025
Kiev [Ukraine], October 3: Russia and Ukraine have once again exchanged prisoners of war, with each side handing over 185 soldiers, the Russian Defence Ministry and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Thursday.
Twenty civilians were also allowed to return on each side.
According to Zelensky, the Ukrainian soldiers were deployed in the south-eastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol and the long-disputed Azovstal steelworks there, as well as at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Most of them had been in captivity since 2022.
The Defence Ministry in Moscow said the exchange took place on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border.
Ukraine has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion for more than three and a half years.
Despite the ongoing fighting, both sides regularly exchange prisoners of war and soldiers' bodies.
Source: Qatar Tribune
