200 Ukrainian POWs return home in latest exchange, Zelensky says
Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Ukraine has brought home 200 soldiers held in Russian captivity in the latest prisoners of war (POW) exchange on March 5, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed releasing 200 Ukrainian POWs in exchange for the same number of Russian soldiers captured by Ukraine, in a swap brokered by the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates.
The released Russian POWs are currently in Belarus, receiving medical and psychological assistance, according to the ministry.
"Every time our people return home, it proves that Ukraine is working to return each and every one," Zelensky said on Telegram, adding, "We do not forget anyone."
Among the POWs who returned are soldiers who defended Mariupol, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia, serving in the Armed Forces, the State Special Transport Service, the Border Guards, or the National Guard, according to Zelensky.
The latest POW exchange comes a month after the previous swap on Feb. 5, when 157 Ukrainian POWs returned home from Russian captivity following peace talks in Abu Dhabi. The February exchange was the first in nearly four months, with Zelensky saying Moscow had blocked swaps throughout that period.
Ukraine's Human Rights Ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, said the March 5 release marks the first stage of a large-scale exchange agreed upon by Russia and Ukraine during negotiations in Geneva in February.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's adviser, Vladimir Medinsky, later confirmed that a 500-for-500 prisoner exchange would take place on March 5 and 6 under the Geneva agreements, RIA Novosti reported.
The youngest soldier to return is 27, and the oldest is 59. Many of those released are in a difficult psychological condition, and some are critically underweight, Lubinets added.
More than four years into the full-scale war, the POW exchange, in addition to the repatriation procedure, is among the few channels in which both Kyiv and Moscow have continued to cooperate.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv has brought back more than 7,000 Ukrainians from captivity, Zelensky said in October 2025. The Interior Ministry said in September 2025 that 2,577 Ukrainian soldiers had been confirmed to be held in Russian captivity, based on its OSINT analysis.
Zelensky thanked the intermediaries, particularly the U.S., which helped broker the POW exchange. The swap comes as the U.S. continues to push Ukraine and Russia to hold peace talks in its ongoing efforts to end the war.
"I am grateful to all our soldiers who are at the front ensuring the replenishment of the exchange fund for Ukraine," Zelensky said in his Telegram post.
"The return of our people home is the result of the strength of the Ukrainian defenders."
