Russia and Ukraine exchange 270 prisoners each
Kyiv and Moscow completed a 270-for-270 prisoner swap and a separate exchange involving seven civilians from each side. Many of the returned Ukrainian troops had been held since 2022.
Russia and Ukraine exchanged 270 prisoners of war each on October 23. Radio Svoboda (svoboda.org) reported the swap on Friday, October 23.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said most of the returning Ukrainian service members had been in captivity since 2022. Five of them had been presumed killed in the Russian strike on the Olenivka detention facility in July of that year.
The “I Want to Find” project said the exchange lists included, for the first time since 2025, troops recruited in the occupied parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Russia’s Defense Ministry said the Russian personnel released in the swap were in Belarus.
A separate seven-for-seven civilian exchange also took place on October 23. One day earlier, Russia handed over 252 bodies of fallen service members to Ukraine and received 25 bodies.