Public sentiment is mixed, showcasing hope for humanitarian progress alongside skepticism regarding the exchanges' effectiveness in altering the wartime dynamics. Concerns for the ongoing conflict persist, with many calling for resolutions that prioritize humanitarian needs.

Ukraine

Russia

Biden Administration

&gt; “Until I saw our flag, I couldn’t believe I was home,” said 46-year-old Oleksandr Savov. “And then I kissed it.” Next to him stood his daughter, Anastasiia Savova, 25, who hadn’t heard from her father in nearly three years. She faithfully wrote him letters while he was held captive that went unanswered.

Regardless of which side of the conflict you're on, this is undoubtedly a good thing.

[deleted]

Now if only they could start getting the Ukrainian children back to their families. Rumor has it they cut the program in the US that was tracking them and deleted the data. The State department denies the data was deleted. 
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/19/nx-s1-5333328/trump-admin-cuts-funding-for-program-that-tracked-ukrainian-children-abducted-by-russia

Thund3rbolt

This is really awesome news and the fact it has barely any traction is a fucking joke. Fuck reddit

ybe447

Ahh yes, half of these people will finally see their family again, and half of these people will get a nice russian lunch and get right back to work. 

Oh and no worries family gets free meat grinder

UseYourBloodyBrain

Give it a couple of days and those Russian  soldiers will be forced back out to the front line as Cannon fodder. It's probably safer  and better conditions  as a POW.

coffee_collection

Good money says the Russian POWs are in way better shape than the Ukrainian ones.

Tribalbob

Spare-Builder-355

From jail to meat grinder good for you comrades!

AmbassadorNo2757

Not new, exchanges have been happening since 2022. We're back where we were before the Oval Office fiasco.

Puzzleheaded-Ear202

Well Donald you've done something and for that I thank you.

And I know how much you like a thank you.

And I'm wearing a suit so JD will love me too. Thank you. Thank you.

Is that enough a bow or courtsey?

Notiefriday

FAKE NEWS! There could not be any Russian POWs in Ukraine, because there is no Russian military in the area! At least that's what Russia Today told me

iwanttosaysmth

Russia is a respectable country and signatory to European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters. I have no doubt they will honor the request of Netherlands and hand over Tsemakh.


After all, they have always stated they are interested in finding out the truth.

Tark4

My family in donestk is tierd of this conflict. They wanted to be back in russia but they dont want this war. Why do people always over complicate things. Things whole conflict is a crock of shit. Fuck both sides

CosmicAshwell

Would be interesting to find out the details of who the prisoners are. Say, on the Russian side the majority is the Ukrainian military personnel from those three ships. 

&amp;#x200B;

Who were the prisoners in Ukraine?

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The alternative is to leave UA soldiers in RF custody...

Some pow are more valuable than others. 

The oligarch is worth the same as hundreds of ua  pow for example.  

The azovstal defenders are worth all rus pow. 

Russia are desperate for their pilots back, injured or not. They have made huge investments into these assets, and they want their money back  

It's all about leverage.

jackster81

Prisoner exchanges have happened throughout history. Not at all uncommon. As for your second point, a returned prisoner is unlikely to be fit for a return to service.

beardedliberal

As others have pointed out it's an exchange so they're getting Ukrainian soldiers back.

But I would also add that Russia is telling their soldiers that if they surrender they will be tortured to death by the evil Ukrainian Nazis. If returned POWs go back to the front lines and talk to their fellow soldiers that lie will be shattered. That's might be more valuable to Ukraine than keeping that soldier out of the war.

wefarrell

&gt; appears to me that they exchange even the uninjured troops.

That's fairly normal in a conflict where all sides are following existing wartime conventions (laughs at the notion that Russia is following any such conventions to the letter). Either side can find reasons to delay/game who and how they're exchanged to a degree, but the goal is to return captured combatants through mutually beneficial trades.  

There's also clear guidelines on full repatriation, ex: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule128

horusrogue

Less people for Ukraine to feed, clothe, house and guard.  And they get their own back.  It's a win win for all parties to exchange prisoners.

There have always been rumors that Russian pows return to Russia are essentially killed as traitors.

As a child, my dad had a Russian pow working on his farm.  They treated him like a member of their family, though that was illegal.  When the family finally fled, the Russian couldn't come with them, so he stayed at the farm. My dad often thinks of him and worries about what happened to him.  He was a good man.

In previous wars if a POW escaped or was exchanged they seldom went back in to the same theater of operation. During WWII some American soldiers were rotated Europe to the Pacific or back to the US for domestic service.

I think some of it was a hold-over from earlier wars where an officer could be paroled but they had to sign an agreement that they would not return to combat (for some reason the idea of it being a matter of honor had a great deal to do with it).

Tishers

No surprise that Russia doesn’t really want POW’s back very badly. Having them come back works against everything Putin is trying to accomplish. They have too many stories.

ajr1775

When they have had theor ass kicked by Ukraine once and seen so many of your comrades killed it is likely that they will do anything they can to keep from being put back on the front lines. IMO.

seorinsky

Nothing prevents them from fighting again.  It makes sense for humanitarian reasons.  Countries are more likely to provide the best care and supplies to their own people vs POWs.  It also frees up the troops and resources who are guarding the POWs.  The trade can make military sense too if your soldiers are killing 1.5 enemy for every loss of yours.  However not all POWs will be fit for service again.  Chances are they'd need to reintegrate into a new unit and recover physically.  Another option I also like is sending POWs to a third neutral country for the duration of the war.

xycor

&gt;6what prevents that person being recycled back into the meat grinder.

nothing.  but what use is a soldier who was treated better by the enemy than by his own command?

I doubt POW's are in a condition to go back into combat. They would be combat ineffective for quite some time.

Seppeon

Ukrainian soldiers are better trained and cared for by their home country than their Russian counterparts. Ukraine gets a valuable asset back, and if that Russian prisoner goes back to the front he'll be artillery food before too long anyways.

travisbe916

I recall Zelenskyy speaking about this. The root cause is Russia failed to provide an agreed upon manifest of fallen Ukrainians/Russians in order to swap at the beginning of the instanbul 2 talks.

The concern was Russia is trying to get rid of their own unidentifiable fallen by giving them to Ukraine under the guise of "fallen Ukrainians" with no names.

Best way to not pay your fallen contract soldiers is to box em up and mail them to Ukraine so the Russian family will never see that pay out promised by the Putin regime.


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Ukraine is actively negotiating with Russia to resume prisoner exchanges involving 1,200 Ukrainian captives, with ongoing discussions mediated by Turkey and the UAE.

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