Ukraine and Russia conduct new prisoner swap

"A new exchange, 84 people, both military personnel and civilians. Almost all of them require medical care and significant rehabilitation," the head of state says.

According to him, among the civilians released today are those who have been held by the Russians since 2014, 2016, and 2017.

"Among the military released today are the defenders of Mariupol. I am grateful to everyone who helps us continue to free Ukrainian captives," the President notes.

What's special about today's exchange

As noted by the Coordination Headquarters, today's exchange is special in that among those returned are people who have been captive since 2014.

This is the 67th prisoner exchange with Russia. As part of this exchange, 33 military personnel and 51 Ukrainian civilians were returned from captivity.

"The peculiarity of today's exchange is that it was possible to free Ukrainian civilians and military personnel who were detained in the temporarily occupied territories even before the Russian full-scale invasion and illegally sentenced to long terms of imprisonment - from 10 to 18 years,” the Coordination Headquarters says in a statement.

One of the released prisoners had been in captivity for 4,013 days — he was captured in the Donetsk region back in 2014.

Ukrainians who were captured and convicted by the Russians between 2016 and 2021 are also returning home. Among those freed are three women from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. One of them is a primary school teacher who was imprisoned in 2019.

Among the Ukrainian civilians released today is a 27-year-old man who was illegally detained by the Russians in 2016. At that time, he was only 18 years old.

In addition to civilians, defenders from the Mariupol garrison, Navy soldiers, and State Border Service of Ukraine officers are also returning home. Ten officers were freed from captivity.

Two pairs of brothers, who had been held captive since March and April 2022, are returning from Russian captivity.

Most of the freed civilians and military personnel have health problems and disabilities.

The youngest freed person is 26 years old, and the oldest is 74, who he spent the last 7 years (since 2018) in a Russian prison.

The United Arab Emirates was involved in organizing the exchange.

The Ombudsman's Office and the State Border Service of Ukraine have already shown poignant footage of the exchange. One of the returned Ukrainian women shares that she has not seen her children for 6 years.

Among those released is also a border guard from the Mariupol garrison, who was held in Olenivka for a long time.

According to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, this serviceman is a colonel who has been fighting since 2014.

"The border guard from the Mariupol garrison was wounded but continued to defend Ukraine. He is a defender of Mariupol. Russia held him captive in Olenivka for a long time. The border guard persevered despite everything. And he returned with honor," Klymenko wrote.

Before this, Ukraine and Russia exchanged prisoners of war on July 23, 2025. At that time, the ninth stage of the prisoner exchange took place following the agreements reached between the delegations in Istanbul in June.

Servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in particular from the Airborne Forces, Navy, Territorial Defense Forces, as well as the State Border Service, National Guard, and National Police of Ukraine, were returned home.

They fought in the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, Kherson, Kharkiv, Sumy, and Chernihiv regions. Some of the released soldiers were captured during the defense of Mariupol and spent more than three years in captivity.

In addition to soldiers and sergeants, officers were also released at that time.

In total, during the second round of negotiations in Turkey, the Russian and Ukrainian sides agreed to exchange all for all seriously wounded, seriously ill, and prisoners of war aged 18 to 25.

In total, under these agreements, exchanges took place on June 9, 10, 12, 14, 19, 20, and 26, as well as on July 4 and 23.