Trump announces 1000-against-1,000 prisoner exchange before it even begins

On May 23, Ukraine and Russia started their greatest prisoner exchange so far as part of a format of 1,000 against 1,000. On the first day, 390 Ukrainian prisoners returned home.

According to Politico, Kyiv kept the process of strict secrecy, since they took concerns about the security of high -ranking people near the Belarusian border in the exchange.

However, when Trump woke up in Washington, he posted online that the exchange was already completed.

“A large prisoner exchange was just completed between Russia and Ukraine. It will come into force shortly. Congratulations on both sides at this negotiation. This could lead to something great? Trump wrote about the social truth.

As Politico reports, however, Trump had completed this post, and the first phase of the exchange did not even start.

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So far, this prisoner exchange has been the only great success of direct conversations between Russia and Ukraine, which were made easier by Trump.

After the exchange, the Defense Minister of Ukraine, Rustem Umerov, said that Ukraine is still obliged to do an armistice and that the United States is hoping for further peace.

1,000 against 1,000 prisoner exchange

As a memory, the Ukrainian and Russian delegations held direct negotiations in Istanbul on the end of the war. One of the results was an agreement on a 1,000-against-1 prison exchange.

The process takes place in several phases. The first exchange took place on May 23. Both sides handed over 390 people each – 270 military personnel and 120 civilians.

Today was the second day of the exchange. This time 307 Ukrainian defenders returned home. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy found that 697 people have been brought back in the past two days, and more likely will return tomorrow.

Further information on the first and second phases of the swap can be found in the RBC Ukraine report.