Russia and Ukraine carried out a large-scale prisoner exchange on Saturday April 11, hours before the start of a 32-hour Orthodox Easter ceasefire. The swap brought home 182 Ukrainians—175 military personnel and seven civilians, in the 72nd such exchange since 2022. The exchange was mediated by the United Arab Emirates. A major highlight was the return of 25 officers, a group Russia had previously refused to include in negotiations.
The exchange follows a two-day swap of 500 POWs per side in March mediated by the U.S. and UAE, and a separate repatriation on April 9 of the remains of 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers in exchange for 41 Russian bodies—a ratio that has held roughly constant for months. POW swaps remain one of the few areas of continuing cooperation between Kiev and Moscow.
