Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced that the third stage of a prisoner swap with Russia will take place on Sunday 25 May.

Source : Zelenskyy in an address

Quote : "The exchange continued today. A further 307 of our soldiers have been brought back home. Privates and sergeants. Most of them are from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard and the State Border Guard Service. Of all these people, 273 were taken prisoner in Donetsk Oblast, a significant number back in 2022, as well as from the territories of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv and Luhansk oblasts. In total, 697 Ukrainians have been brought back home in two days of swaps.

Tomorrow is the third stage. We should liberate a thousand of our people during these days."

Details : Zelenskyy emphasised, however, that the task is to release every single person currently being held in Russia, "and this is a common task for our intelligence agencies, for our diplomats, for our entire state".

Zelenskyy also referred to recent Russian attacks on Kyiv and other cities, stressing that "Russia fills every day with grief and killings and is just dragging out the war". He urged the United States, Europe and other partners to respond robustly.

Quote: "Ukraine is ready for any form of diplomacy that will bring results. We are ready for all the steps that can guarantee real security. It’s Russia that is not ready for anything. The next week should be a time of activity for the sake of putting further pressure on Russia, that is, for the sake of peace." 

Previously : On Friday 23 May, Ukraine and Russia carried out the first part of the thousand-for-thousand exchange agreement, bringing back 390 people. Of these, 270 were military personnel and 120 were civilians.
On Saturday 24 May, another 307 Ukrainian defenders were brought back from Russian captivity. All of them are men of private and sergeant ranks.

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