Russia and Ukraine swap more POWs in second exchange in two days

Russian POWs board bus in Belarus after release from Ukraine
A still image from a video released by the Russian Defence Ministry shows what it said to be Russian service personnel captured by Ukrainian forces and released during the latest exchange of prisoners of war in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, as they pose with Russian flags in front of a bus at an unknown location in Belarus, in this image taken from handout footage released June 20, 2025. Russian Defence Ministry/Handout via REUTERS
Source: Handout

Russia and Ukraine completed another round of prisoner exchanges on Friday, officials in both countries said, part of a recent agreement to swap POWs and the bodies of dead soldiers.

Neither Russian nor Ukrainian officials specified how many people were involved in the exchange, the second in two days.

Writing on X, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said most of his country's POWs had been held by Russia for more than two years, and had been captured across various parts of the sprawling front line.

Russia's defence ministry said the Russian POWs included in the exchange were currently in Belarus, which shares borders with both warring countries.

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The two countries have carried out a series of swaps of captured troops and the remains of dead soldiers since renewing peace talks in Istanbul last month after a gap of more than three years.

This article was produced by Reuters news agency. It has not been edited by Global South World.