Trump Hails Russia-Ukraine Prisoner Deal as Possible 'Beginning of Something Bigger'

US President Donald Trump announced that Russia and Ukraine conducted a large prisoner exchange. According to Trump, the process was just completed. On May 16, the two sides agreed to a "1000 for 1000" prisoner exchange, but no date had been specified. It was all said that it would take the parties a few days to complete the swap.

According to Trump, the exchange "just concluded."

"A major prisoners swap was just completed between Russia and Ukraine. It will go into effect shortly. Congratulations to both sides on this negotiation," the US president posted on Truth Social. "This could lead to something big???"

The agreement on a "1000 for 1000" prisoner swap was reached between Ukraine and Russia during their first direct negotiations since 2022, held in Istanbul on May 16. The head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, Kyrylo Budanov, announced the exchange would take place this week.

Neither Moscow nor Kyiv disclosed a specific date. It was only said that the process would be broken up over several days due to technical challenges in carrying it out in a single day. On May 22, both sides exchanged lists of prisoners for the swap.

The previous prisoner exchange, using a "205 for 205" formula, took place on May 6. On April 19, Moscow returned 246 servicemen, with Kyiv receiving the same number. The UAE Foreign Ministry had called that exchange the largest since the start of the military operation in Ukraine.

Details

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.