We are discussing POW swap – Zelenskyy on announced 1,000-for-1,000 swap
The recently announced 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia concerns only military personnel.
This was stated by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to Suspilne, as reported by Censor.NET.
The head of state stressed that prisoner exchanges must apply exclusively to service members, while civilians and children "must be returned" unconditionally.
"On our part, there were signals regarding political prisoners and journalists. I don't want to go into detail now. Exchanging children for military personnel — in my view, that's... Well, honestly, we do not support that approach. Children must be returned, right? It’s unjust and violates the law — even the laws of war. That is precisely the principle being followed by the group led by Umerov, together with representatives of the Security Service and intelligence," Zelenskyy said.
As a reminder, the agreement on the simultaneous release and handover of 1,000 prisoners of war from each side was reached between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Istanbul on May 16, 2025.
