Ukraine working on 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner exchange with Russia, Zelensky says

Ukraine is working on a previously agreed-upon 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner exchange with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on May 21.

"We have to release all our people, unconditionally. We are trying to do the maximum we can. We are trying very hard," Zelensky said in an evening address on May 21.

Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) on May 17 announced it had launched preparatory steps for the large-scale prisoner exchange with Russia involving 1,000 detainees from each side.

Zelensky noted that Ukraine is ensuring the exchange goes as planned, adding that reports are prepared daily.

The prisoner exchange was agreed upon between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations at the Istanbul peace talks on May 16.

The peace talks were the first direct negotiations between Ukraine and Russia since 2022, when Russia issued maximalist demands to Ukraine, including abandoning NATO membership aspirations and making large-scale territorial concessions.

The peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in Turkey led to an agreement on a prisoner exchange, but did not yield results in stopping Russia's war.

At the Istanbul talks, Russia sent a delegation of low-level officials and reiterated maximalist demands, including that Ukraine accept the loss of Crimea and four eastern regions.

Instead of a ceasefire, Russian President Vladimir Putin has insisted on negotiating a "memorandum regarding a potential future peace treaty," the Russian leader said following a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump on May 19.

Ukraine has long demanded an all-for-all prisoner exchange, but Moscow has so far refused the proposal.