There have been 270 Russian soldiers and 120 Russian civilians swapped for 270 Ukrainian soldiers and 120 Ukrainian civilians on Friday, according to the defense ministry. The exchange is expected to continue "in the coming days," Russia said. "We are bringing our people home," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. "The first stage of the '1000-for-1000' exchange agreement has been carried out." "Thank you to everyone who is helping and working 24/7 to bring Ukrainian men and women back home," he continued. "It is very important to return everyone who remains in captivity. We are verifying every surname, every detail about each person. We will continue our diplomatic efforts to make such steps possible." The exchange was prepared following bilateral peace talks in Istanbul last week.

A major prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine began Friday, the countries said, in one of the few signs of progress from their direct talks last week in Istanbul — part of a U.S.-led effort that so far has failed to produce a ceasefire in the 3-year-old war. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the first phase of the exchange was bringing home 390 Ukrainians, with further releases expected over the weekend. “It’s very important to bring everyone home,” he wrote on Telegram, thanking all who worked to secure their return and pledging to continue diplomatic efforts to make more exchanges possible.

The swap unfolded at the border between Belarus and Ukraine, a senior Ukrainian official told the Associated Press. Moscow had no immediate comment. On his X account, Zelenskyy released images purportedly showing the newly-freed Ukrainians. "A major prisoners swap was just completed between Russia and Ukraine. It will go into effect shortly," Trump wrote on Truth Social this morning. "Congratulations to both sides on this negotiation. This could lead to something big???" On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X that "I held a meeting on the preparation for an exchange" and "The agreement to release 1,000 of our people from Russian captivity was perhaps the only tangible result of the meeting in Turkey."