Russia takes Akhmat fighters and convicts in POW exchange for Ukrainian defenders
Ukraine has secured bringing back 157 prisoners of war in an exchange after several failed attempts, while Russia has received 157 captives, including convicted prisoners and fighters from the Akhmat unit, a Chechen armed formation fighting on Russia's side, of which five POWs have been swapped under a medical exchange.
Source: Khochu Zhyty (I Want to Live) project
Details: Ukraine repeatedly proposed different exchange formats, including a return to the Istanbul arrangements on an open-ended exchange of severely wounded and sick POWs, which Russia unilaterally violated through Putin's aide Vladimir Medinsky on 23 July 2025.
Ukraine has repeatedly said it is ready not only to continue regular exchanges, which are hard to negotiate, but also to resolve the POW issue more broadly through a humanitarian "all for all" exchange.
The I Want to Live project said Russia had taken a different approach and ignored such initiatives.
Quote: "Russia's Ministry of Defence returns only certain categories of prisoners of war. First and foremost, Akhmat Kadyrovites. It is hard to imagine how many exchanges have been derailed because the Russian side refused to take ordinary soldiers, demanding Kadyrovites instead. This exchange was no exception, and dozens of Akhmat fighters are going home. The breakdown by nationality in today's exchange is telling: 80% are Russians, 13% are Chechens and only 7% are from other nationalities of the 'multinational country'.
"Whom did Russia's Defence Ministry request for the exchange? As usual, those who were captured recently. Most have spent less than a year in captivity. Some 75% of those exchanged are convicts who signed contracts from prison. Why them? Convicts are the most rightless category of Russian soldiers. Mobilised troops may be allowed a week at home after captivity, but convicts are sent straight back to their units so they serve out their contracts. It cannot be ruled out that by March some of those exchanged today will surrender again, as happened with convicts Dmitry Ivanov and Saktaagai Shagaa, who were swapped in the summer.
The main criterion used by Russia's Defence Ministry when deciding whom it wants back has not changed. It is soldiers who can be easily sent back to the front and members of a privileged caste in the Russian forces, the Akhmat Kadyrovites, who will end up in rear areas after the exchange. The severely wounded and sick, foreigners, POWs from units of the so-called 'Donetsk People's Republic' and 'Luhansk People's Republic' and those held for a long time are of little interest to Russia's Defence Ministry. Russia consistently refuses an 'all for all' exchange, returning only those it still views as a fighting asset."
Background: On 5 February, a prisoner exchange took place for the first time in five months, with Ukraine managing to bring back 157 people held by the Kremlin, including both military personnel and civilians.
Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!