CNN
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Russia and Ukraine have completed the first phase of what is expected to be the largest prisoner exchange since the start of the war, with around 800 people being released on Friday.
The swap begins on Friday and continues on Saturday and Sunday, with Kyiv and Moscow expecting to trade 2,000 people.
It was the only significant result of the meeting between Kiev and Moscow in Istanbul last week, and the first time I had met in person shortly after Russia’s full-scale unprovoked Ukrainian invasion in February 2022.
“We’re bringing people home,” Ukrainian President Voldimi Zelensky told X, adding that 390 people returned to Ukraine on Friday. He said the group includes 270 troops and 120 civilians.
The Ukrainian Coordination Centre for Ukraine’s POW Treatment said three women and 387 men were among the women released on Friday.
In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that “270 Russian military personnel and 120 civilians” had been returned to Russia. Civilians said they were captured by Ukrainian troops in Kursk, the Russian region where Ukraine launched a surprising invasion last summer. Russia then regenerated most of its territory.
However, Zelensky later said that the Russian civilians returned by Ukraine were “Russian destroyers and collaborators” arrested by Ukrainian law enforcement officials.
Similar to previous exchanges, the released prisoners were taken to the meeting place by several buses after being released by Russia at the Ukrainian border. Many were given a Ukrainian flag and bracelet at the border.
Photos and videos released by the Ukrainian government showed dozens of men wearing military fatigue, most of whom had their heads shaved and posed in flags.
Several of the released men were able to see them talking to their loved ones on the phone. I let out tears as I heard the other side.
One video showed people from the village along the convoy route coming out with flags and greeted the returnees.
“I feel happy because I’m at home. That’s what it’s all about. It’s happy for you that we’ve come… We prayed for this and asked to wake this up,” Vasyl Gulyach, who spent two and a half years, told CNN.
CNN also spoke with 29-year-old Anton Kobylnyk. “I belong to you, I’ve received your letter,” he told his girlfriend Yulia over the phone. “What you did, waiting for me for the last 37 months is a very great feat on your part and an invaluable contribution to our relationship,” he told her.
At the same time, Russian soldiers who were taken prisoner by Ukraine were handed over to Russian authorities at the border.
On the Ukrainian side, dozens of people waited for hours to greet the returnees at meeting venues in the Chernichv region of northern Ukraine.
Many have brought Ukrainian flags and pictures of their loved ones – in case any of the returnees recognize them and give them information about their whereabouts.
While they wait, air raid sirens have sounded throughout Ukraine, indicating that a Russian attack may be imminent.
Thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been snatched by Ukrainian authorities, occupied by Russian authorities, and deported to Russia, where they are detained without charges or trial.
Their status is complicated – Ukraine considers them to be civilian hostages because they are illegally detained. Russia has insisted that in some cases they should be recognized as prisoners of war. Kiev did not do so as it could potentially put civilians living in occupied areas in Ukraine at risk of being detained intentionally.
Ukrainian and Russian authorities were not expected to publicly say that it was going on until it was completed. But US President Donald Trump defeated the convention on Friday, announcing the swap as social media rolls out.
The Istanbul Conference was originally proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in response to the ultimate in the ceasefire or lineage given to Moscow by Kiev’s European allies.
But the return of hundreds of Ukrainian detainees will come as a great relief for families and loved ones, but as the only concrete result of the highly promoted meeting, it remains somewhat overwhelming.
In his daily speech, Zelensky added that Friday’s prisoner exchange was the “only significant result” of last week’s meeting in Turkey, with Russia blocking “everything else.”
Inmate swaps are regularly performed, most recently earlier this month.
The Ukrainian prisoner of war treatment centre said the May 7 exchange, which had returned to Japan with more than 200 Ukrainian service members, was the fifth swap this year, and the 64th exchange since the beginning of a full-scale Russian invasion.
The department said at the time, 4,757 Ukrainian citizens had been released since March 2022.
Ukraine and its allies demanded that Russia agree to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Istanbul, but that did not happen.
Kiev also provided direct consultations between Zelensky and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
