Ukrainian servicemen meet with their relatives after being released from Russian captivity at an undisclosed location on 6 May 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE/STRINGER

US President Donald Trump has announced the successful completion of a prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine, though the two countries themselves have not yet confirmed the news, and Ukrainian media reports that the swap has not yet occurred.

Taking to Truth Social early Friday morning, Trump declared: “A major prisoners [sic] swap was just completed between Russia and Ukraine. It will go into effect shortly.”

“Congratulations to both sides on this negotiation. This could lead to something big???”, he added.

However, Ukrainian news outlets RBC-Ukraine and Hromadske have both reported Friday that the exchange was ongoing and not yet complete, citing sources with knowledge of the matter.

It is not yet clear whether Trump was referring to the “1,000-for-1,000” prisoner exchange that Moscow and Kyiv agreed to following discussions in Istanbul, in what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described as “perhaps the only real result” of their first head-to-head talks in years.

Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-appointed official in the occupied part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, said on his Telegram channel that the swap would take place over three days from Friday to Sunday, although this information has not been independently confirmed so far.

On Monday, Ukraine’s Defence Minister Rustem Umerov confirmed that agreement and stressed the process would be “complex and sensitive” and require “precise coordination”. Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that Moscow had received a list from Kyiv of prisoners who could be exchanged.

Several prisoner swaps have taken place since the full-scale war began, though the agreed-upon “1,000-for-1,000” exchange would mark the largest such exchange in the last three years.