Europe
Russia and Ukraine exchange 270 prisoners each, with most of Kyiv’s returnees held since the siege of Mariupol
Both governments confirm a 270-for-270 prisoner exchange on 23 October. Ukraine says most of its people were captured at Mariupol in 2022; Russia says its servicemen are in Belarus.
Russia and Ukraine exchanged 270 prisoners each on 23 October, according to statements from both sides. Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War describes it as the third stage of a combined exchange that began on 19 August.
Ukraine’s account
President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote that 270 Ukrainians are home, among them National Guard soldiers, including Azov fighters, border guards, territorial defence troops and servicemen of the Navy, Ground Forces and Air Assault Forces, as well as nine civilians. He said most had been in captivity since 2022, and that most of those freed were men who defended Mariupol. He added that many had been unlawfully sentenced in Russia.
The Coordination Headquarters gave its own breakdown: 261 service personnel and nine civilians, of whom 38 are officers. It said 221 were captured or went missing at Mariupol, 266 of the total in 2022, and that the International Committee of the Red Cross had confirmed the captivity of 262. Five of those freed survived the July 2022 attack on the Olenivka prison, which Ukraine calls a Russian terrorist attack. The Headquarters also said nine of the returned servicemen are seriously ill. Its head, Lt Gen Oleh Ivashchenko, said in a statement that the returns are the result of long work that does not stop even when agreements are slow to come.
Russia’s account
Russia’s defence ministry said 270 Russian servicemen were returned from territory controlled by Kyiv, in exchange for 270 Ukrainian prisoners of war. It said the Russians are now in Belarus, where Russia’s human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova, is working with them, and that after psychological and medical help they will be taken to Russia for treatment and rehabilitation in defence ministry medical facilities.
What the statements do not say
The two sides count the exchange slightly differently: Moscow speaks of 270 prisoners of war for 270, while Kyiv counts 261 servicemen plus nine civilians among its 270. Neither statement names a mediator for this exchange, and neither says where the transfer took place beyond the Russian reference to Belarus. Claims about the circumstances of captivity, including the description of convictions as unlawful, are Ukraine’s and were not independently verified.
Prisoner exchanges continue while wider diplomacy stalls. On the political track, the Kremlin has said it is ready to resume trilateral talks around 10 November, as we reported in Kremlin says Russia is ready to resume trilateral Ukraine talks around 10 November after Putin meets Witkoff. Also on 23 October the White House announced a separate localized arrangement for Oleshky, described in White House says Russia and Ukraine agreed a localized ceasefire in Oleshky from 29 October, brokered by Melania Trump.