‘Major’ Ukraine-Russia prisoner swap ‘completed’

US President Donald Trump said yesterday that a major prisoner swap was just completed between Russia and Ukraine.

"A major prisoners 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 said in a post on Truth Social.

Ukraine submitted a list of 1,000 prisoners of war to Russia in preparation for a major upcoming swap, an official at Ukrainian military intelligence said on Thursday.

An agreement to conduct such an exchange was reached earlier this month in Istanbul during the first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in more than three years.

Meanwhile, Russia's defence ministry said yesterday its air defence systems had downed 112 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 24 over the Moscow region.

Ukraine has intensified drone attacks on Russia in the past several days, forcing temporary shutdowns of Russian airports. On Thursday Russia said it had fired an Iskander-M missile at part of the city of Pokrov in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region.

Kyiv and Moscow have both accused each other of violating the Geneva Convention on the treatment of POWs, with the UN saying prisoners on both sides have been "subjected to torture and ill-treatment."

Russia regularly violates international norms by putting POWs on trial -- with allegations of torture widespread and several Ukrainian captives confirmed to have died in custody.

Moscow's forces are also believed to have taken an unknown number of Ukrainian civilians into Russia in three years of seizing Ukrainian towns and cities.

There have been several high-profile cases of Ukrainian civilian captives.