The nature, size, and political significance of prisoner exchanges between Ukraine and Russia have evolved significantly over the three and a half years of the full-scale war, accelerating sharply in recent weeks. While ceasefire and peace negotiations have gone through periods of halts and bursts, increasingly institutionalized prisoner exchanges are
Another 277 Ukrainian soldiers returned home in a major prisoner swap with Russia mediated by the United Arab Emirates, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on April 19.
A Russian military court has sentenced Vadim Chaly, a 30-year-old Kyiv native to 16 years in prison for attempting to send explosive packages to senior Russian military officials, according to Russian state media.
A 28-year-old U.S. citizen was detained at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport after Russian authorities allegedly found food items containing cannabis derivatives in his luggage.
"There's good will in terms of the war," U.S. President Donald Trump said when asked if Fogel's release could lead to a peace deal.
U.S. history teacher Marc Fogel was released on Feb. 11 in an "exchange," the White House said. The details of the deal with Russia have not been disclosed.
There were about 300,000-350,000 prisoners in Russian colonies and prisons in 2024, which is half as many as in 2014, Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service said.
The Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War (POWs) called it one of the largest prisoner exchanges since the start of the full-scale war in 2022.
Eugene Spector, 52, was already serving a three-and-a-half-year sentence for bribery when he was charged with espionage.
Five people have been killed and a further seven injured in a fire at a detention center in the city of Yakutsk, which houses Russian soldiers who deserted their units during Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian officials reported.
As of December 2024, 301 Ukrainian civilian women are in Russian captivity, with 25 detained before Russia's full-scale invasion and 276 taken since, according to Olha Skrypnyk, head of the Crimean Human Rights Group (CHRG), speaking on Dec. 11.
Russia will "definitely be prepared to consider" a prisoner exchange, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told NBC News, adding that a potential exchange could mark "a healthy step forward, especially at the beginning of the next (U.S.) administration."
Russian troops operated a torture chamber on Belarusian state-owned property in 2022, journalistic investigation reveals. Over 150 Russian drones flew into Belarusian airspace in November — three times the previous monthly record of incursions. The European Parliament urges stronger sanctions on Belarus, Iran, and North Korea for aiding Russia’s war
Editor’s note: In accordance with the security protocols of the Ukrainian military, soldiers featured in this story are identified by first names and callsigns only. DONETSK OBLAST – Sitting around in the long, dry grass outside an abandoned village house, two dozen men in summer military fatigues listen attentively to
"Yesterday morning, after the inspection, they told me that I was leaving in half an hour, but they didn't tell me where. ... We found out about the exchange by accident on the way."
Ukraine and Russia on Oct. 18 conducted their 58th prisoner exchange, involving 190 prisoners of war, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced.
Russian investigators claimed that beyond the violation of the foreign agents registration, Laurent Vinatier had plead guilty to illegally obtaining information about the military.
Several months ago, most of these infantrymen were serving their sentences behind bars. Now, they are part of the 1st Separate Assault Battalion, known as "Da Vinci."
The circumstances of Viktoria Roshchyna's death are still being confirmed, said Petro Yatsenko, a spokesperson of Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
Editor’s note: This story contains graphic descriptions. Several months after Russian Sergei Kozlov, an assault fighter of the infamous Wagner Group, returned home from the war in Ukraine, he violently killed his 18-year-old partner Daria, who was pregnant with his child. She was beaten to death, suffering a traumatic
Halfway down a narrow corridor painted all in gray, the guard wrestles with a bulky lock to gain entry to the prison cell. Inside are around twenty young men, sitting on a criss-crossing pattern of metal bunk beds. In the corner of the room, plastic cups and books are stacked
Artyom Buchin had previously been sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2023 for the rape and murder of a nurse but was reportedly released to fight in Ukraine.
The seizure of the penal colony will be an important step in documenting war crimes committed by Russia against prisoners of war, Media Initiative for Human Rights reported on Aug. 23.
Andrey Bocharov, governor of Volgograd Oblast, said that four employees were hospitalized with injuries.
The Russian Prosecutor's Office claimed that all the prisoners expressed "negative attitudes toward the Russian-speaking population" and supported "pro-Ukrainian radical views."
A Russian court has sentenced dual U.S.-Russian citizen Ksenia Karelina to 12 years in prison for treason, Russian independent media outlet Mediazona reported on Aug. 15.
Russian authorities have issued arrest warrants for nine prisoners under contract with Russia's Armed Forces who escaped from a military training ground in Belgorod Oblast, local media in Belgorod Oblast claimed on July 28.
"(Around) 3,800 prisoners are already in the Armed Forces. Most of them have recently completed their training," the secretary of the parliamentary national security committee, Roman Kostenko, told Ukrainska Pravda.
Another 95 Ukrainian defenders have been brought back home, including service members of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, and the Border Guard, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on July 17.
Russian authorities are being accused of systemically depriving Russian political prisoners and government critics of contact with families in order to ensure cooperation and "impose additional suffering on them and their families," an Amnesty International report released on June 26 charged.
The trial of Ksenia Karelina, a U.S.-Russian dual national accused of treason for allegedly raising money for the Ukrainian military, began on June 20 in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg.
Since Ukraine's new conscription law took effect, over 2,750 prisoners have been released from detention to join the Ukrainian military, the Washington Post reported on June 16.
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