Ukraine, Russia free 200 POWs each in latest swap amid stalled peace talks | Russia-Ukraine war news

The exchange comes amid a crisis in US-brokered talks to end the four-year war between the two countries.

Ukraine and Russia have each released 200 prisoners of war (POWs), officials from both countries said, as efforts to reach a deal to end their four-year conflict stalled.

Thursday’s release is part of an exchange agreed during talks in Geneva last month, which will release a total of 500 POWs from each side, Ukrainian and Russian officials said, with the remaining 300 expected to be released on Friday.

“Today, 200 Ukrainian families received the long-awaited message – that their loved ones are coming home,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a social media post.

“And this is always good news for all of us, for the whole country: the return of our people to their homeland,” Zelensky added, thanking the United States “for its support in making this exchange possible.”

In video footage shared by Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets, soldiers leave the buses, wrap themselves in Ukrainian flags, and shout “Glory to Ukraine!” before embracing loved ones who came to greet them. shouted.

Russia’s Defense Ministry also released footage of its soldiers boarding a bus, draped in Russian flags, and cheering.

Kyiv and Moscow conducted regular POW exchanges throughout the war, which reached the four-year mark in February.

United States-brokered talks to end the conflict have stalled, despite recent rounds of talks in Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.

Territory is a major sticking point, with Russia demanding that Ukraine give up the remaining 20 percent of territory east of Donetsk that Russian forces have failed to capture — a demand rejected by Kyiv.

Ukraine has demanded security guarantees from its Western allies to prevent any further Russian attacks if an agreement is reached to end the war.

US President Donald Trump expressed frustration with his Ukrainian counterpart in an interview with Politico on Thursday, telling the US news outlet that Zelensky “needs to get on the ball and they have to make a deal”.

Trump told Politico that he thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin is “ready to make a deal.”

Observers have criticized Trump for putting more pressure on Ukraine than on Russia to make concessions to reach a deal.

In a social media post later Thursday, Zelensky said Kyiv’s priority was to “do everything to end the war.”

“We will continue the diplomatic process when our American partners are ready to work as we agreed – bilateral formats with them, trilateral formats with Russia and working with the Europeans,” he said.