A major prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine is underway, a senior Ukrainian official said Friday.
The swap is not yet finished, the official told the Associated Press, despite President Donald Trump declaring Friday that Russia and Ukraine completed a ‘major prisoners swap.’
The announcements come after Russian and Ukrainian officials took part in direct talks in Turkey last Friday for the first time since the early days of the war, agreeing to release around 1,000 prisoners of war.
‘A major prisoners swap was just completed between Russia and Ukraine. It will go into effect shortly,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social. ‘Congratulations to both sides on this negotiation. This could lead to something big???’
On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X that ‘I held a meeting on the preparation for an exchange’ and ‘The agreement to release 1,000 of our people from Russian captivity was perhaps the only tangible result of the meeting in Turkey.’
Trump had a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. Following the conversation, Trump said ‘I believe it went very well.’
‘Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War. The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of,’ Trump said. ‘The tone and spirit of the conversation were excellent. If it wasn’t, I would say so now, rather than later.’
Putin, in a statement after the call, also noted that ‘a ceasefire with Ukraine is possible’ but noted that ‘Russia and Ukraine must find compromises that suit both sides.’
The Kremlin then said Thursday that both sides had no direct peace talks scheduled.
‘There is no concrete agreement about the next meetings,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Associated Press. ‘They are yet to be agreed upon.’
Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.