Russia, Ukraine exchange prisoners as Trump says Zelenskyy call ‘very good’

Asked by US President Donald Trump to hold a “very good” phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Russia and Ukraine have reportedly exchanged 372 prisoners of war in a deal that was arranged by the United Arab Emirates.

In what it called a “gesture of goodwill,” the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday that Moscow had returned 175 soldiers and “22 seriously wounded prisoners of war in need of urgent medical assistance.” According to the statement, Kyiv returned 175 Russian soldiers.

Zelenskyy confirmed the swap, saying it was “one of the largest” exchanges since the Russians’ full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“I thank our team for their significant efforts to find and facilitate exchanges among Ukrainian prisoners of war,” as well as for the hopeful outcomes. The United Arab Emirates, in particular, is one of our partners, who contributed to today’s exchange, the Ukrainian leader continued.

The conversation took place as Trump and Zelenskyy hung up a phone call the day after Trump contacted Russian President Vladimir Putin to try to broker a truce in the conflict.

Trump stated in a social media post following the discussions that efforts to reach a ceasefire in Russia’s invasion are “very much on track” and that he had a “very good” call with Zelenskyy.

Trump continued, adding that the call was intended to “align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their needs and requests.” He added that he had asked US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Michael Waltz to provide more information about the conversation in a pending statement.

The Russian leader resisted backing a full 30-day ceasefire during Trump’s discussion with Putin on Tuesday, agreeing not to attack energy infrastructure.

Following an overnight barrage of Russian drone strikes across Ukraine, Zelenskyy said that Putin’s vow was “very much at odds with reality.”

At a press conference in Helsinki with Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Zelenskyy said, “Even last night, after Putin’s conversation with Trump, 150 drones were launched overnight, including on energy facilities,” Zelenskyy said.

Numerous attacks

According to the Ukrainian military, 72 of the 145 drones were launched by Russia and air defenses destroyed.

According to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, the Russian strikes, which also wiped out some of the country’s railways, resulted in one fatality and two serious injuries to two hospitals.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, 57 Ukrainian drones were destroyed by Russian air defenses.

No one was hurt, according to authorities in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar, which was the result of a Ukrainian drone attack that had reportedly sparked a fire at an oil depot close to Kavkazskaya.