The exchanges have been the only progress of any note in negotiations between the two countries as the war rages on in its fourth year.
Published On 16 Nov 2025
Ukraine is working to resume prisoner exchanges with Russia that could bring 1,200 Ukrainians home, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says, a day after his national security chief announced progress in negotiations.
“We are … counting on the resumption of POW exchanges,” Zelenskyy wrote on X on Sunday. “Many meetings, negotiations and calls are currently taking place to ensure this.”
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Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, said on Saturday that he held consultations mediated by Turkiye and the United Arab Emirates on resuming prisoner of war exchanges, which the two sides have carried out successfully multiple times.
He said the parties agreed to activate prisoner exchange agreements brokered in Istanbul to release 1,200 Ukrainians.
The Istanbul agreements refer to prisoner exchange protocols established with Turkish mediation in 2022 that set rules for large, coordinated swaps. Since then, Russia and Ukraine have traded thousands of prisoners although the exchanges have been sporadic.
But the swaps have been the only progress of any note in talks between the two sides as the war rages on and another punishing winter approaches with oil and energy sites being targeted by both Moscow and Kyiv.
Authorities in Moscow did not immediately comment on the issue.
Umerov said technical consultations would be held soon to finalise procedural and organisational details, expressing hope that returning Ukrainians could “celebrate the New Year and Christmas holidays at home – at the family table and next to their relatives”.
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