Russia and Ukraine have exchanged 270 prisoners of war each, Russian state news agency TASS said on Friday, citing the Defence Ministry in Moscow. Interfax reported the same 270-for-270 formula and said Russian servicemen returned in the exchange were in Belarus, the usual staging point before they are brought back to Russia for medical and psychological support. No Ukrainian confirmation of the numbers was available in the reports read.
Russia and Ukraine exchange 270 prisoners of war each
Russia and Ukraine exchanged 270 prisoners of war each on Friday, the Russian Defence Ministry said, in one of the larger swaps of the war.
Why it matters: Prisoner exchanges are the one channel of direct Russia-Ukraine cooperation that has kept working through the war, and a swap of this size keeps that channel open while wider talks remain stalled.
Data as of Reuters report via Devdiscourse, October 23, 2026, citing TASS and the Russian Defence Ministry; Interfax report of the same exchange read in Russian. The figures come from the Russian Defence Ministry; no Ukrainian confirmation was in the sources read, so this item is single-origin and graded accordingly. Developing item.
Sources
- Russia and Ukraine swap 270 POWs each, TASS cites Defence Ministry - Reuters, via Devdiscourse - 2026-10-23
- Russia and Ukraine carried out a prisoner exchange on a 270-for-270 formula (in Russian) - Interfax - 2026-10-23