Ukraine seeks to resume prisoner exchanges with Russia to bring home 1,200 captives

Volodymyr Zelensky. PIC/AFP

Ukraine is working to resume prisoner exchanges with Russia that could bring home 1200 Ukrainian prisoners, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday, a day after his national security chief announced progress in negotiations. "We are… counting on the resumption of POW exchanges," Zelenskyy wrote on X. "Many meetings, negotiations and calls are currently taking place to ensure this."

Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, said on Saturday he held consultations mediated by Turkey and the UAE on resuming exchanges. He said the parties agreed to activate prisoner exchange agreements brokered in Istanbul to release 1200 Ukrainians.

Russia fired a total of 176 drones and one missile overnight, of which Ukraine neutralised 139. Ukrainian forces struck a major oil refinery in Russia's Samara region, along with a warehouse storing drones for the elite Rubicon drone unit in the partially Russian-occupied Donetsk region. Russia's defence ministry said on Sunday that its forces shot down 57 Ukrainian drones overnight.

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