270 Ukrainian POWs return home in latest swap with Russia
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Editor's note: This story is being updated.
Ukraine and Russia exchanged prisoners of war on Oct. 23, with 270 Ukrainian service members returning home, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced.
The exchange, the first in two months, also saw 270 Russian prisoners of war returned to Russia from Ukrainian captivity.
According to Zelensky, most of the Ukrainians returning home had been captured during the Siege of Mariupol in spring 2022, and included soldiers from the Ground Forces, Navy, Air Assault Forces, border guards, and fighters from the original Azov regiment, which led the defense of the city.
Five of the returned POWs had been assumed dead after the Olenivka prison massacre in July 2022, when Russian forces detonated a thermobaric munition inside a prison barracks holding Ukrainian prisoners of war.
According to Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, a "significant portion" of the released prisoners had been found guilty of sham criminal charges while held by Russia.
Seven Ukrainian civilians were also brought back from Russia with the help of Ukrainian authorities, Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said in a Facebook post. Lubinets added that another seven civilians had traveled to Russia as part of family reunification efforts supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Zelensky, as well as the Coordination Headquarters later said that nine civilians had been released.
While intermittent U.S.-mediated "peace talks" between Russia and Ukraine have failed to secure even a partial ceasefire, prisoner exchanges remain one of the few channels of regular cooperation between Moscow and Kyiv.
The latest swap was the 11th reported prisoner exchange of 2026. The previous two exchanges took place in August.
