Trump claims that Ukraine and Russia finalise large-scale prisoner exchange

US President Donald Trump has announced that a large-scale prisoner exchange has been agreed between Ukraine and Russia.

Trump became the first Western official to comment on the prisoner swap, the preparation of which was agreed at talks in Istanbul.

"A major prisoners swap was just completed between Russia and Ukraine," the US president said on Truth Social.

At the time of publication, neither Kyiv nor Moscow had confirmed the agreement or the implementation of the exchange.

"It will go into effect shortly. Congratulations to both sides on this negotiation. This could lead to something big???" Trump concluded.

A source from one of Ukraine’s special services confirmed to European Pravda that the exchange has not yet been completed. According to the source, the process is still ongoing.

On 22 May, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting on preparations for a potential prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia in the thousand-for-thousand format. 

This agreement was perhaps the only tangible outcome of the meeting between Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Türkiye, which took place on 16 May, the first such talks in Istanbul in over three years.

It was reported that Russia had sent a low-level delegation led by Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky to the talks in Türkiye.

The media also reported that the Russian delegation in Istanbul demanded that US representatives not be present at the talks with the Ukrainian side and put forward demands that are unrealistic and go far beyond what was previously discussed.