According to Skibitsky, his team “has a normal experience with the Russian side” on the exchange of prisoners. He also recalled that on May 16, the bodies of 909 military personnel of defense forces were returned to Ukraine.
“Because of this, we will do everything so that every citizen of Ukraine will return home. We are waiting for them, we will welcome them and accordingly continue our work with the Russian side,” the representative of the GUR added.
The fact that at the negotiations in Istanbul delegations from Kyiv and Moscow agreed to exchange prisoners in the “1000 per 1000” format, both the Turkish Foreign Ministry and the Russian side reported. The Minister of Defense of Ukraine Rustem Umarov did not indicate the exact exchange periods, but noted that he would take place “in the near future.”
Context
In total, in the framework of the negotiation process and exchanges since March 2022, 4757 Ukrainian citizens were liberated. The last exchange of prisoners of war took place on May 6, then they returned home 205 defenders of Ukraine.
On May 15, 2025, the Coordination Headquarters, by dealing with prisoners of war, said that the lists of Ukrainian defenders who are captured by the Russian-aggressor country of the Russian Federation were handed over to the Roman Leo of the Russian Federation.
Most Ukrainian troops freed from Russian captivity said that the invaders applied physical torture to them, said Dmitry Lubinets, authorized by the Verkhovna Rada for Human Rights. Systematic torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war confirmed the UN in the report of October 1, 2024.
