Russia has announced that an agreement has been reached with Ukraine on conducting a large-scale prisoner of war exchange. According to RBC-Ukraine, citing the Russian state agency TASS, this was stated by Vladimir Medinsky, who heads the Russian delegation at the negotiations in Abu Dhabi. Meanwhile, specific parameters of the upcoming return of people—such as numbers, procedures, and logistics—were not disclosed at the time of publication. A representative of the Russian side emphasized that detailed information will be published later, after the completion of procedural coordination.
Medinsky's Announcement: A 'Big Exchange' Without Numbers
Speaking as part of the negotiation process in Abu Dhabi, Vladimir Medinsky stated that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to carry out a "big exchange" of prisoners. According to him, both sides came to an understanding of the necessity of such a step, but he intentionally refrained from naming either the number of participants or the timeframe. "Specific information on it will be published later," the Russian representative noted, limiting himself to stating the fact of the agreement. Thus, the Russian side recorded a political decision while reserving the right to manage the information field until the technical readiness of the exchange.
General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces: Exchange Possible in Two to Three Weeks
More concrete guidelines on the timeframe were provided by Alexander Zorin, a representative of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, in a comment to the Vesti publication. According to him, the prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia could take place "in the coming, perhaps two to three weeks," following the coordination of all issues related to the exchange procedure. Zorin added that the upcoming exchange could become one of the largest in the history of the conflict. These words were not backed by a document or protocol, but their voicing by an official representative of the General Staff gives the statement the status of an official forecast.
Scale According to Kyiv: From 1,000 to 1,500 People
The only specific figures that appeared in the public space regarding the upcoming exchange were previously voiced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. According to him, two options were discussed: "1,000 for 1,000" or "1,500 for 1,500." These estimates were given before Medinsky announced the agreement and essentially set the framework for the expected scale. The Russian side in its statements neither confirmed nor denied these figures, limiting itself to the phrase "big exchange." Thus, at the time of publication, only Kyiv's tentative figures remain in the public field, while the Russian side prefers not to fix the volume until procedural coordination is finalized.
Context: Prisoner Exchange as Part of the Abu Dhabi Negotiation Package
According to RBC-Ukraine, the issue of prisoner exchange was one of the key topics in the first round of meetings in Abu Dhabi. Alongside the humanitarian track, the parties discussed security guarantees, cessation of hostilities, and the future security architecture in the region. This means the prisoner exchange is viewed not as an isolated humanitarian gesture, but as an element of a broader negotiation package where the humanitarian component is closely tied to political and military conditions. It is precisely this linkage that explains why both sides avoid publicly fixing specific parameters until the entire complex of issues has been agreed upon.
Currently, neither side has published the text of the agreement or a protocol on the exchange procedure. The next expected stage, following the logic of the statements by Russian representatives, will be the disclosure of the procedure and, possibly, lists of participants. Until that moment, any specific figures remain tentative and cannot be qualified as parameters of the agreement confirmed by both sides.
