Russia and Ukraine swap 270 prisoners each

Prisoners of war freed

270 each side

Russia's defence ministry said the two sides exchanged prisoners of war on Oct 23, 270 for 270, and that the freed Russian soldiers are now in Belarus.

Ukraine's president said most of the returned soldiers had been held since 2022, many of them defenders of Mariupol.

Five of the returned men had been presumed dead after the July 2022 killing of at least 50 Ukrainian prisoners at the Olenivka prison camp.

A separate exchange of civilians took place the same day at the Belarus crossing, and included elderly people and a young woman with a child.