Ukraine and Russia conduct major prisoner exchange: Details
Photo: Ukraine and Russia exchanged prisoners on May 6 (t.me/V_Zelenskiy_official)
Ukraine and Russia conduct a large prisoner exchange on Tuesday, May 6, the official Telegram channel of Volodymyr Zelenskyy reports.
According to Zelenskyy, today Ukraine brought back 205 warriors. Ukrainians were kept in captivity in different Russian regions.
"We brought them back. And I thank everyone who worked on this exchange. I thank our partners, first and foremost, the United Arab Emirates, for their mediation and assistance. I thank those who care and continue to speak about Ukrainians in captivity," Zelenskyy wrote.
Who is brought back
According to the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, today marked the 64th prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a total of 4,757 Ukrainians have been brought back.
"Many defenders had been in captivity since the beginning of the full-scale invasion; some of them are seriously ill and wounded," Lubinets reported.
According to Ukraine's Defense Intelligence, among the released warriors this time are members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including the Naval Forces, Air Force, Airborne Assault Forces, Territorial Defense Forces, as well as the National Guard of Ukraine and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.
Three Ukrainian officers and 202 soldiers and sergeants are returning home.
The liberated defenders had been defending Ukraine in the Donetsk and Luhansk directions, in the Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions, in the Kherson, Sumy, and Kyiv regions, as well as defenders from the Mariupol garrison.
Prisoner exchanges
According to the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, since the beginning of the full-scale war, more than 4,000 prisoners of war and civilians have been released from Russian captivity.
The most recent prisoner exchange took place on the eve of Easter, on April 19, when 277 defenders were released from Russian captivity.
The previous exchange took place on March 19, 2025. At that time, 175 warriors were released from captivity, and another 22 defenders returned thanks to measures outside the exchanges. Later, the news emerged that six servicemen from the 12th Special Forces Brigade Azov were among those who returned from Russian captivity then.
As previously reported, Ukraine had achieved a separate format for the return of its citizens from Russian captivity, particularly for those who are seriously ill and wounded.
