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Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners of war under the age of 25 on Monday in emotional homecoming scenes, the first step in a series of planned prisoner swaps that could become the biggest of the war so far.
The exchange, announced by both sides, was the result of direct talks in Istanbul on June 2 that resulted in an agreement to conduct an exchange of at least 1,200 PoWs on each side and to repatriate thousands of bodies of those killed in the war.
At a rendezvous point for the returning Ukrainian prisoners, soon after they crossed back into northern Ukraine, an official handed one of the freed men a cellphone so that he could call his mother, a video released by Ukrainian authorities showed.
"Hi mum, I've arrived, I'm home!" the soldier shouted into the receiver, struggling to catch his breath because he was overcome by emotion.
In a second video clip distributed by Ukrainian officials, one returned prisoner could be seen talking on the phone to a relative of another man still in captivity. For relatives of missing Ukrainians, returning prisoners can be the only source of news about their loved ones.
"Don't worry, everything is okay with him," the soldier told the relative, a woman called Tania whose tearful voice could be heard on the other end of the call.
The Russian military said its returned servicemen were now in Belarus, a close Russian ally, where they were receiving psychological and medical assistance before being transferred to Russia for further care.
Footage broadcast by Russia's RIA state news agency showed a group of freed Russian soldiers on board a coach raising their hands in the air and shouting: "Hurrah we're home."
The same group was shown holding a Russian flag and chanting "Russia! Russia!" before boarding the coach.
"It is very difficult to convey what I'm feeling inside now. But I am very happy, proud and grateful to everyone who took part in this process, in the exchange and bringing us home," said one freed Russian soldier.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country had received the first group of prisoners from Russia and that it would take several days to complete the swap.
"Today's exchange has begun. It will be done in several stages in the coming days," Zelenskyy said on social media.
"The process is quite complex, with many sensitive details, and negotiations continue virtually every day. We count on the full implementation of the humanitarian agreements reached during the meeting in Istanbul. We are doing everything possible to bring back every single person."
Neither side said how many prisoners had been swapped on Monday, but the Russian Defense Ministry said in its own statement that the same number of military personnel had been exchanged on each side.
"On June 9, in accordance with the Russian-Ukrainian agreements reached on June 2 in Istanbul, the first group of Russian servicemen under the age of 25 was returned from the territory controlled by the Kiev regime," the Russian Defense Ministry stated.
Russian ministry added: "In exchange, a similar number of Ukrainian Armed Forces prisoners of war were transferred. Currently, Russian servicemen are in the Republic of Belarus, where they are receiving the necessary psychological and medical assistance. All Russian servicemen will be transported to the Russian Federation for treatment and rehabilitation in medical facilities of the Russian Ministry of Defense."
Officials in Kyiv said some of the Ukrainian prisoners who came home on Monday had been in Russian captivity since the beginning of the war.
Emphasizing that all Ukrainian prisoners should be brought back to their homes, Zelenskyy stated: "We expect the full implementation of agreements on humanitarian issues reached in the Istanbul negotiations. We are doing our best to bring everyone back. We are working at every level for this."
The Kremlin had said earlier on Monday that Russia was ready to honour agreements with Ukraine on the PoW exchange and the repatriation of dead soldiers despite what it said was "Kyiv's failure to fully honour its side of the bargain".
Ukraine had denied allegations of postponing the prisoner swaps.
"Russia remains committed to the agreements with Ukraine reached during the previous round of negotiations in Istanbul and always honors its commitments, unlike the other side," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.
Speaking at a press briefing in Moscow, Peskov said Kyiv's "excuses and justifications" for refusing to exchange prisoners of war and bodies of fallen soldiers hardly qualify as credible.
On June 2, as a result of negotiations held in Istanbul between Russia and Ukraine, hosted by Türkiye, agreements were reached on the delivery of frozen bodies of 6,000 Ukrainian soldiers, and the exchange of seriously wounded and sick soldiers and prisoner soldiers under 25 years of age.
The return of PoWs and the repatriation of the bodies of the dead is one of the few things the two sides have been able to agree on, even as their broader negotiations have failed to get close to ending Russia's war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year.
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