Zelenskyy announces largest prisoner-of-war exchange

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced the "largest" prisoner-of-war exchange with Russia following his meeting with US President Donald Trump's special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff on 12 November.

Source: Zelenskyy's statement at a press conference in Dublin

Quote: "After Russia, the American team also accepted that we will have an exchange of POWs. It will be the biggest, as Steven and Jared told me, the biggest exchange of war prisoners.

And these guys, our soldiers will come home. So I'm very thankful to all our negotiators. This is a real result. This is very important. This is success for the families, first of all, of course, and for all of us that people will come home to their families."

Details: Zelenskyy did not specify the number of prisoners involved in the exchange. However, he had previously said that the possibility of a 1,000-for-1,000 or 1,500-for-1,500 exchange had been discussed during the negotiations.

He said another important outcome was that European representatives would be at the negotiating table next time and would have a say in the talks.

The president also said that the next meeting involving all these negotiators would take place soon.

Background:

• On 12 November, a meeting took place in the Kremlin between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Witkoff and Kushner.
• During the talks, Putin specifically proposed conducting a so-called "humanitarian mission" in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk Oblast, following the example of Oleshky.
• Witkoff and Kushner expressed hope that European representatives would join the next round of peace talks aimed at ending Russia's war against Ukraine.
• On 11 November, Davyd Arakhamiia, Davyd Arakhamiia, leader of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction and a Ukrainian representative, gave a positive assessment of the trilateral talks between Ukraine, the US and Russia in Abu Dhabi and expressed hope that an agreement could be reached by the end of the year.

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