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President Donald Trump congratulated Russia and Ukraine after a prisoner swap was announced between the two warring nations early Friday.
According to reports, the two sides agreed to an exchange involving 1,000 prisoners.
“A major prisoner swap was just completed between Russia and Ukraine. It will go into effect shortly. Congratulations to both sides on this negotiation. This could lead to something big???” Trump posted to Truth Social.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced his participation in a meeting about the exchange on Thursday.
“I held a meeting on the preparation for an exchange. The agreement to release 1,000 of our people from Russian captivity was perhaps the only tangible result of the meeting in Türkiye. We are working to ensure that this result is achieved,” Zelenskyy posted to X.
“Reports were presented on contacts with the Russians. Ukraine’s Minister of Defense, Rustem Umerov, is overseeing the organization of the process and the implementation of the agreement. The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, and the team of the Office of the President are all involved. We are clarifying the details for each individual included on the lists submitted by the Russian side,” he continued.
“Returning all of our people from Russian captivity is one of Ukraine’s key objectives. I am grateful to everyone who is contributing to this effort,” Zelenskyy concluded.
The events have unfolded after Trump announced Monday that Russia and Ukraine will start negotiations toward a ceasefire after he held a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday.
“Just completed my two hour call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. I believe it went very well. Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“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. The tone and spirit of the conversation were excellent. If it wasn’t, I would say so now, rather than later,” he added.