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Russia and Ukraine began a major prisoner swap Friday following an agreement reached during their first direct talks in more than three years, though Ukrainian officials said the exchange was still ongoing and not yet complete as U.S. President Donald Trump had announced.
Trump declared on his Truth Social platform that "a major prisoners' swap was just completed between Russia and Ukraine," adding it would "go into effect shortly." However, a senior Ukrainian official familiar with the swap details told reporters the exchange was still underway Friday morning.
A Ukrainian military source confirmed to international media that the prisoner swap had begun but was not finished. Moscow did not immediately confirm the exchange was underway.
"Congratulations to both sides on this negotiation. This could lead to something big???" Trump wrote in his post, apparently referring to potential diplomatic progress toward ending the conflict.
White House and National Security Council officials did not immediately respond to requests for further details about the exchange or Trump's announcement.
The prisoner exchange represents the only concrete outcome from two hours of direct Russia-Ukraine talks held in Istanbul last week—the first such meeting since the early weeks of Moscow's February 2022 invasion.
According to reports, both sides agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each but failed to reach an agreement on a cease-fire proposed by Trump. Previous prisoner swaps between the warring nations have been mediated by the United Arab Emirates.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Friday that the venue for the next round of peace talks would be announced "in due time."
"Naturally, the choice of venue cannot be made unilaterally, it requires mutual consent from both parties. When the time is right, this decision will come," Peskov told reporters at a Moscow press briefing.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed earlier suggestions that the meeting could be held at the Vatican, despite Trump indicating the Holy See was interested in hosting negotiations.
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Ukraine has stated it is ready for an immediate 30-day cease-fire, but Russia, which currently occupies about one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, says it will not pause military operations until specific conditions are met first.
A member of the Ukrainian delegation called Russia's conditions "non-starters."
Moscow maintains it is ready for peace talks while fighting continues and wants to discuss what it calls the war's "root causes," including demands that Ukraine cede more territory and be disarmed and barred from Western military alliances.
Kyiv says such terms amount to surrender and would leave Ukraine defenseless against future Russian attacks.
The conflict has become Europe's deadliest war since World War II, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides believed to have been wounded or killed, though neither country publishes accurate casualty figures.
Tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians have also died as Russian forces have besieged and bombarded Ukrainian cities over the course of the nearly three-year conflict.
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