Russia hands over hundreds of Ukrainian captives in prisoner swap
Russia has handed over hundreds of shaven-headed Ukrainian captives as part of the largest prisoner swap of the war so far.
Volodymy Zelensky shared photos of dozens of men draped in Ukrainian flags as they were returned to Ukrainian lines on Friday.
The Ukrainian leader said 390 people were returned in the first stage of the '1,000 for 1,000' prisoner swap between Kyiv and Moscow, which is expected to continue on Saturday and Sunday.
'Thank you to everyone who is helping and working 24/7 to bring Ukrainian men and women back home,' he wrote on X.
'It is very important to return everyone who remains in captivity. We are verifying every surname, every detail about each person. We will continue our diplomatic efforts to make such steps possible.'
The exchange was agreed last week during the first direct peace talks between Ukraine and Russia for three years.
The first group of prisoners crossed the Belarusian border in the afternoon.
The soldiers could be seen disembarking from coaches, waving at the camera and cheering.
They smiled as they embraced fellow soldiers with the blue and yellow colours of Ukraine wrapped around their shoulders.
Most of those exchanged will be military personnel, but it has been reported that some civilians are also due to be freed. The releases are being staggered due to the sheer number of people involved.
Ukraine is hoping to secure the release of some of the defenders of the Azovstal metal plant in Mariupol, which fell to Russian forces in May 2022 after a brutal three-month-long battle for the city.
Donald Trump was the first to announce the swap, writing on social media: 'A major prisoner swap was just completed between Russia and Ukraine. It will go into effect shortly.
'Congratulations to both sides on this negotiation. This could lead to something big???'
The US president said he hoped further peace talks would take place between the two sides after a two-hour phone call with Vladimir Putin on Monday.
Mr Trump suggested the Vatican could host the next round of talks after Pope Leo XIV signalled he was ready to help end the conflict.
But Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, played down the idea of negotiations in the city state.
'It would be a bit inelegant for Orthodox countries to discuss, on Catholic ground, issues related to eliminating root causes (of the conflict),' he said, accusing Kyiv of 'destroying' the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has historic ties to Moscow.
He added: 'For the Vatican itself it would not be very comfortable to, in these circumstances, host delegations from Orthodox countries.'
The previous largest swap took place in April and involved the exchange of more than 500 prisoners. There have been more than 60 exchanges since the 2022 invasion, and the releases are one of the few areas where both sides have found common ground.
Friday's exchange was the only concrete outcome of the face-to-face negotiations in Istanbul, which ended without any substantial progress on a lasting ceasefire.
The Kremlin continues to reject calls for an immediate ceasefire and demands that any peace talks address the 'root causes' of the war. It describes these as a mix of historical grievances, increased Western interference in Ukraine and Kyiv's alleged discrimination towards the country's ethnic Russian minority.
Russia has demanded official recognition of its control over the Crimean peninsula and four regions of mainland Ukraine, as well as commitment that the country never join Nato, as its terms for agreeing to a lasting truce.
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