Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners of war under the age of 25 on Monday (9), in exciting scenes of home return, the first step in a series of exchanges that can become the greatest of war so far.
The event was the result of direct negotiations between the two sides in Istanbul on June 2, who agreed to agree to the exchange of at least 1,200 prisoners of war on each side and for the repatriation of thousands of bodies of those who died in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The return of the prisoners of war and the repatriation of the bodies of the dead is one of the few points where both sides have managed to reach an agreement, as they managed to end the war, now in their fourth year.
The fighting continued, with Russia stating on Monday that its forces had taken more territory control in the Dnipropetrovsk Center-East region of Ukraine, and Kiev claiming that Moscow had released his
Authorities in Kiev said some of the Ukrainian prisoners who returned home on Monday had been in Russian captivity since the beginning of the war.
At a meeting point for the Ukrainian prisoners who were returning, shortly after crossing back north of Ukraine, an officer handed a cell phone to one of the released men so that he could call his mother, as a video released by the Ukrainian authorities.
“Hi, mom, I arrived, I arrived!” Shouted the soldier on the phone, struggling to recover his breath, taken by the emotion.
The released Ukrainians were later taken by bus to a hospital in northern Ukraine, where they would undergo medical examinations and receive bathing, food and care kits, including cell phones and shoes.
The joy was mixed with sadness, because outside the hospital there was a crowd of people, most women, looking for relatives who disappeared as they fought for Ukraine.
The women held photos of the missing men in the hope that one of the prisoners of war that returned to recognize them and shared details about what happened to them. Some expected their loved ones to be among the released.
Oksana Kupriyenko, 52, held an image of her son, Denys, missing in September 2024.
“Tomorrow is my birthday and I expected God to give me a gift and return me my son,” she said amid tears.
Psychological assistance
None of the sides reported how many prisoners were exchanged on Monday, but the Russian Defense Ministry stated in its own statement that the same number of military personnel was exchanged for both sides.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a video speech, said the exchanges, in conversation with the Russian side, would be led in several steps.
“The exchange process should take more than one day. The details of the process are quite delicate,” he said. “That’s why there is currently less information than usual.”
Zelensky also said the Ukrainian forces were involved in intense combat near Pokrovsk in the East, within the Russian region of Kursk, and also in the Ukrainian region of Sumy, where Russian forces try to establish presence in various border villages.
Kremlin advisor Vladimir Medinsky said over the weekend that a first list of 640 war prisoners had been delivered to Ukraine.
The Russian army reported that its returned military was now at Belarus, an ally near Russia, where they received psychological and medical assistance before being transferred to Russia for additional care.
Images transmitted by Russian state news agency Ria showed a group of Russian soldiers released aboard a bus lifting their hands and shouting, “Live, we’re home!”
The same group was shown holding a Russian flag and shouting “Russia! Russia!” before boarding the bus.
“It is very difficult to express what I am feeling now. But I am very happy, proud and grateful to everyone who participated in this process, the exchange and bring us home,” said a released Russian soldier.
Both sides claim that the intention of the prisoner exchange round is also to deliver seriously ill or severely injured people. People seen being delivered so far on Monday seemed to be healthy and in good condition.
