KYIV — Ukraine is working to resume prisoner exchanges with Russia that could see 1,200 Ukrainian captives returned home, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday, a day after senior officials reported progress in negotiations.
“We are … counting on the resumption of POW exchanges,” Zelenskyy wrote on X, noting that “many meetings, negotiations and calls” were underway to secure an agreement.
Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said Saturday that consultations mediated by Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates resulted in an agreement to activate existing prisoner-exchange arrangements brokered in Istanbul. Moscow has not yet commented.
The Istanbul agreements — established in 2022 through Turkish mediation — outline procedures for large coordinated swaps. While Russia and Ukraine have exchanged thousands of prisoners since then, the process has been sporadic.
Umerov said technical consultations will follow to finalize procedural details, expressing hope that returning Ukrainians will be able to “celebrate the New Year and Christmas holidays at home — at the family table and next to their relatives.”
Meanwhile, Russian drone attacks overnight damaged critical energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s Odesa region, including a solar power plant, the State Emergency Service said.
The strikes come as Ukraine braces for winter amid rolling blackouts caused by repeated attacks on its power grid.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 176 drones and one missile overnight, with Ukrainian defenses downing or neutralizing 139 drones.
The wave of aerial attacks coincides with intensified Russian ground operations aimed at capturing the eastern city of Pokrovsk.
Ukraine’s military said it struck a major oil refinery in Russia’s Samara region and a warehouse used by the Rubicon drone unit in Russian-occupied Donetsk. Russian authorities did not immediately confirm the strikes.
Moscow’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 57 Ukrainian drones overnight, continuing a pattern of mutual long-range strikes as both sides seek to pressure each other’s critical infrastructure heading into winter. — Agencies
