Ukraine, Russia free 200 POWs each in latest swap amid stalled peace talks 

Ukraine and Russia have freed 200 prisoners of war (POWs) each, officials from the two countries said, as efforts to reach a deal to end their four-year conflict appear to have stalled.

Thursday’s release is part of an exchange agreed during talks in Geneva last month that will see a total of 500 POWs freed by each side, Ukrainian and Russian officials said, with the remaining 300 expected to be released on Friday.

“Today, 200 Ukrainian families received the most-awaited message – their loved ones are coming home,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a social media post.

“And this is always good news for all of us, for the entire country: the return of our people to their homeland,” added Zelenskyy, thanking the United States “for its support in making this exchange possible”.

Video footage shared by Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets showed servicemen leaving buses, wrapped in Ukrainian flags and shouting “Glory to Ukraine!”, before embracing loved ones who came to welcome them.

The Russian Defence Ministry also published footage showing its soldiers boarding a bus and cheering while draped in Russian flags.

Kyiv and Moscow have carried out regular POW exchanges throughout the war, which hit the four-year mark in February.

United States-brokered negotiations to end the conflict have stalled despite recent rounds of talks in Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.

Territory has been a major sticking point, with Russia insisting that Ukraine give up the remaining 20 percent of the eastern region of Donetsk that Russian forces have failed to capture – a demand rejected by Kyiv.

Ukraine also has demanded security guarantees from its Western allies to prevent any other Russian attack should an agreement to end the war be reached.

US President Donald Trump expressed frustration with his Ukrainian counterpart in an interview with Politico on Thursday, telling the US news outlet that Zelenskyy “has to get on the ball, and he has to get a deal done”.

Trump also told Politico that he thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin is “ready to make a deal”.

Observers have criticised Trump for appearing to apply more pressure on Ukraine than on Russia to make concessions to reach an agreement.

In a social media post later on Thursday, Zelenskyy said Kyiv’s priority “is to do everything to end the war”.

“We will continue the diplomatic process when our American partners are ready to work as we agreed – bilateral formats with them, trilateral formats with Russia, as well as work with the Europeans,” he said.