Young Ukrainian POWs return home in major swap under Istanbul deal

The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Monday that Moscow and Kyiv had exchanged the first group of servicemen under the age of 25 in the first round of a large-scale swap carried out under an agreement reached in Istanbul last week.

The ministry did not specify the number of servicemen, noting that “an equivalent number of prisoners of war” were exchanged with Ukraine.

According to the ministry, the returned Russian servicemen and civilians are currently in Belarus, where they are receiving psychological support and medical care.

All the repatriated individuals will be transferred to medical facilities in Russia for further treatment and rehabilitation, it said.

On the Ukrainian side, Dmytro Lubinets, the country’s human rights ombudsman, confirmed the return of young soldiers, mostly born in 2000, from various military branches, including the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), State Border Guard Service, National Guard, and Territorial Defense Forces. Among those repatriated were defenders from the Ukrainian Marine Corps and Air Assault Forces, including soldiers captured during the siege of Mariupol.

“The exchange took place on the second day of the Feast of the Trinity,” Lubinets said in a statement, emphasizing the significance of returning the young servicemen to their homeland.