Ukraine and Russia conducted a massive prisoner swap Friday, a key breakthrough from their first direct talks in more than three years of war.
“A major prisoners swap was just completed between Russia and Ukraine. It will go into effect shortly,” President Trump confirmed in a Truth Social post just before 6 a.m.
“Congratulations to both sides on this negotiation,” he said of the exchange agreed to last week in the first direct peace talks between the warring nations since the early weeks of Russia’s 2022 invasion.
“This could lead to something big???” he suggested.
The warring nations each agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners during a tense, two-hour talk in Istanbul last week — the only substantial outcome of the meeting, which failed to reach an agreement on a cease-fire deal proposed by Trump.
“We talked about a ‘1,000 for 1,000’ exchange and are also working on other modalities for this swap,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov told reporters on May 16 after talks with Russian officials, according to the Kyiv Post.
Previous prisoner swaps have been mediated by the United Arab Emirates.
A Ukrainian military source confirmed the exchange had started but was yet to be completed. Moscow did not immediately confirm the exchange was underway.
While the president is hopeful the prison swap could signal a willingness for Russia to end the war, Moscow has repeatedly pushed back on a US-backed, 30-day cease-fire, which Kyiv has said it would agree to immediately.
Russian President Vladimir Putin snubbed an offer from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to meet face to face in Turkey last week, and instead sent a low-level delegation.
During the talks, Russia demanded Ukraine give up four major cities — Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk — which it has eyed since the beginning of the conflict.
Ukraine held its ground and refused.
Trump threatened to tighten sanctions on Russia if Moscow blocked a peace deal, but after speaking to Putin on Monday, he decided to take no action for the time being.
With Post wires
