Ukraine prepares major prisoner exchange with Russia Up to 1,000 Ukrainians could return home

Ukraine is preparing a new prisoner exchange with Russia, potentially bringing home up to 1,000 Ukrainian citizens, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced during a conversation with journalists on September 19.

“Ukraine's Secretary of the National Security, Rustem Umerov, discussed the exchange with Medinsky — they are in contact. We want to bring back 1,000 people and are working on the lists,” Zelenskyy said, according to Ukrainian media outlets.

Addressing the broader context of Ukrainian-Russian negotiations, the president noted that discussions between the two delegations are currently at a standstill.

“We can meet with them tomorrow if we just want to talk. But we need results. We have read all their memoranda, we know them well. And they have read ours — they know what they want, and we know what we want,” he said.

Zelenskyy accused Russia of deliberately prolonging the negotiations and showing no interest in ending the war. “They lied again — we are meeting, there is an agreement on the exchange, and in addition to the exchange, there is an agreement on the format in which the leaders will meet to try to agree on ending the war, on one stage or another. But they met and agreed only on the exchange. They returned and said: ‘Let’s do the exchange — civilians first. After the civilians, there will be a call with Rustem to discuss further.’ Then they called and now say: ‘We probably need to do something else — technical meetings.’ They are dragging everything out,” Zelenskyy explained.

The Ukrainian president also confirmed that he would raise the issue with US President Donald Trump and hold talks with China, saying, “I think everyone will do a little bit to make the meeting at the leadership level happen.”

This planned exchange follows earlier rounds of negotiations in Istanbul. The first round, held on May 16, resulted in an agreement for a “1,000 for 1,000” prisoner swap. 

The second round, on June 2, established the exchange of prisoners of war in two categories — the wounded and seriously wounded, as well as soldiers under the age of 25 in an “all for all” format — and also addressed the return of the bodies of deceased soldiers.

The third round of talks took place on July 23.

By Tamilla Hasanova