Zelensky Scrambling to Find Russian Prisoners for Major Swap Deal

Ukraine does not have enough Russian prisoners of war to proceed with the proposed "1,000-for-1,000” prisoner swap with Moscow, Andrey Kartapolov, head of the Russian State Duma Defense Committee said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is "desperately searching for anyone” who could be added to the exchange pool.

Kartapolov also stated that foreign mercenaries would not be included in the swap, as they represent "a separate caste.” Regular soldiers operate under an oath and follow military orders, while "it's something entirely different when someone comes for money and commits crimes,” he said.

"Zelensky is rummaging through all his prisons to find any Russian POWs just to gather enough for the swap — because how could they have that many of our soldiers? Now they're even rounding up teenagers, elderly people, and women off the streets,” Kartapolov alleged.

The large-scale prisoner exchange was agreed upon during Russia-Ukraine talks held in Istanbul on May 16. If carried out, it would be the biggest prisoner swap since the beginning of the special military operation.

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A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war in custody for a range of legitimate and illegitimate reasons, such as isolating them from the enemy combatants still in the field (releasing and repatriating them in an orderly manner after hostilities), demonstrating military victory, punishing them, prosecuting them for war crimes, exploiting them for their labour, recruiting or even conscripting them as their own combatants, collecting military and political intelligence from them, or indoctrinating them in new political or religious beliefs.