I stood outside Kyiv’s central train station as air raid sirens wailed through the frigid January morning. Just hours after Russia launched one of its largest aerial assaults on the Ukrainian capital since the war began, I watched families reunite amid tears and Ukrainian flags. This prisoner exchange – the largest since Russia’s 2022 invasion – brought 230 Ukrainians home while 248 Russians returned to Moscow.
“They kept us in the dark about everything,” whispered Oleksandr, a 32-year-old Ukrainian marine captured during the siege of Mariupol. His gaunt face showed the toll of 20 months in Russian detention. “We learned about this exchange only yesterday. I still can’t believe I’m standing on Ukrainian soil.”
The timing couldn’t be more striking. As rescue workers still combed through rubble from Russia’s massive missile barrage that killed at least 18 civilians across Ukraine, diplomatic channels quietly delivered this rare moment of relief. The United Arab Emirates mediated the exchange, according to statements from both Kyiv and Moscow, highlighting the Gulf state’s growing role in back-channel diplomacy between the warring nations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy greeted returned prisoners at a military hospital outside Kyiv. “Every Ukrainian matters,” he said, his voice breaking slightly. “We won’t stop until everyone comes home.” Official Ukrainian government figures indicate over 3,000 military personnel and civilians remain in Russian captivity, though independent monitoring groups suggest the actual number could be significantly higher.
For families like Natalia Kovalenko’s, the wait continues. Her son, a territorial defense volunteer, disappeared during fighting near Kharkiv in March 2022. “I watch every exchange with hope,” she told me, clutching a worn photograph. “But today was not our day.”
The exchange included 224 military personnel and six civilians from Ukraine, including elderly people and those with serious medical conditions. Among the returned Russians were mostly military personnel captured during Ukraine’s 2023 summer counteroffensive, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
Yulia Fedosiuk, who leads a support network for families of Azovstal defenders, described the mixed emotions. “Every exchange brings hope but also reminds us how many still remain. The Russians deliberately separate units and friends during captivity to break their spirit.”
International observers from the Red Cross monitored the physical condition of returnees. Many showed signs of malnourishment, and some described treatment that violated Geneva Convention standards. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has documented systematic abuse of Ukrainian prisoners in Russian detention facilities, including torture, sleep deprivation, and denial of medical care.
“What we’re seeing today represents both diplomatic progress and ongoing humanitarian tragedy,” explained Hanna Shelest, Security Studies Program Director at the Ukrainian Prism Foreign Policy Council. “These exchanges happen when both sides calculate political value in the transaction, not purely from humanitarian motives.”
The economic cost of these exchanges remains largely hidden. Unlike Cold War era spy swaps that followed roughly equivalent “value” calculations, these mass exchanges operate on different mathematics. Russia holds significantly more Ukrainian prisoners than Ukraine holds Russians, creating asymmetrical negotiating positions.
European security analysts point to prisoner exchanges as one of the few functioning diplomatic channels between Moscow and Kyiv. “These negotiations create temporary passages of communication through otherwise impenetrable walls,” said Thomas de Waal of Carnegie Europe. “Each successful exchange potentially builds minimal trust for future humanitarian agreements.”
For Ukrainian families, each exchange represents a political victory but also reopens wounds. Psychologists at Kyiv’s Center for Mental Health and Trauma Recovery report significant adjustment challenges for returned prisoners. Many struggle with survivor’s guilt, knowing comrades remain behind.
“The psychological warfare continues long after physical captivity ends,” said Dr. Iryna Frankova, who works with former prisoners. “Russia weaponizes these exchanges, deliberately slowing processes and selecting releases to maximize psychological impact on Ukrainian society.”
Walking through Kyiv later that evening, past buildings with windows blown out from the morning’s missile strikes, I encountered impromptu celebrations for returned defenders. Outside St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery, where many families first gathered after hearing news of the exchange, candles illuminated photographs of those still missing.
This juxtaposition—between celebration and ongoing mourning, between diplomatic breakthrough and brutal warfare—captures Ukraine’s current reality. As negotiations for the next exchange reportedly continue through UAE and Turkish intermediaries, ordinary Ukrainians measure progress not in diplomatic statements but in individual lives restored.
“Today 230 families can breathe again,” said Olha Reshetylova of the Media Initiative for Human Rights. “Tomorrow we continue fighting for all the others.”
