One of the few tangible outcomes was the completion of a two-day POW exchange as peace talks stalled amid turmoil in the Middle East.
Published on 6 March 2026
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the eastern front as Ukraine and Russia completed a two-day prisoner-of-war swap, exchanging 500 soldiers each.
The swap, which involved an exchange of 200 troops each on Thursday and 300 each on Friday, came as US-brokered peace talks stalled with a planned tripartite meeting this week suspended due to escalating conflict in the Middle East.
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Two Ukrainian citizens were also repatriated.
A video posted by Zelensky of the exchange shows dozens of men stepping off white buses, waving and hugging watch guards. A soldier, with a phone to his ear, was heard saying to his mother: “I’m home, that’s it, I’m home.”
US Special Envoy Steve Wittkoff credited the swap to “sustained and detailed peace talks” in Geneva under the direction of President Donald Trump, thanking Switzerland for hosting the talks.
“Discussions are ongoing,” Wittkoff wrote, “and additional progress is expected in the coming weeks.”
On Friday, Zelenskyy traveled to positions near Druzhkivka and Kostiantynivka in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russian troops mass before the expected spring offensive, to meet soldiers of the 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade.
He told the frontline troops that their efforts are key to strengthening Ukraine’s position in future peace talks.
“We are strong in the eastern direction,” he told the troops, “and we are strong in the negotiation process.”
However, the talks, scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi between March 5 and 9, were postponed after US and Israeli attacks on Iran prompted retaliatory strikes across the Gulf.
“Due to the situation around Iran, there are still no necessary signals for a tripartite meeting,” Zelensky said.
In an interview with Politico on Thursday, Trump renewed pressure on Kyiv to reach a settlement, warning that Putin was ready to make a deal and that Zelensky was holding a much weaker hand.
“Now, they have even fewer cards,” Trump said, without providing evidence to back up his claim about Moscow’s readiness to end the war.
Zelenskyy pushed back sharply on Russia’s demands to give up the rest of Donetsk, which Ukraine controls, stuck to the center in negotiations.
“Why should we leave our own land that we control?” He said. “He is not successful on the battlefield, he has no strength.”
That battleground picture has shifted modestly in Kyiv’s favor in recent weeks.
Ukrainian forces have recaptured nine settlements in the Zaporizhia region since late January and, for the first time since the summer of 2024, recaptured more ground than they lost in a single month.
Analysis group DeepState estimated Russian territorial gains in February at 126 square kilometers (49 square miles), while the Institute for the Study of War put Ukrainian gains since January 1 at about 257 square kilometers (99 square miles).
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