‘We could not influence the list’ In Russia and Ukraine’s biggest prisoner swap of the war, Moscow returned a defector and prisoners already slated for deportation
Late last week, Russia and Ukraine carried out their largest prisoner exchange since the start of the full-scale war, with each side handing over 1,000 people. Moscow and Kyiv agreed to the swap during peace talks in Istanbul on May 16 — negotiations that otherwise failed to produce any results. This “1,000 for 1,000” exchange was the sixth between Russia and Ukraine this year, marking the 65th swap since 2022. It took place over three days, from May 23 to 25, with 390 people from each side exchanged on the first day, 307 on the second, and 303 on the third. Russia reported the return of 880 military personnel and 120 civilians — the same number Ukraine received, according to the Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War. And while the scale of the exchange alone made headlines, several unexpected details stood out.
Who was handed over to Russia?
Of the 120 civilians handed over by Ukraine, 70 were Ukrainians convicted of crimes against national security. Among them was Oleksandr Tarnashynskyi, a leader in pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk’s Ukrainian Choice movement. After the full-scale war began, he was accused of attempting to establish sham governing bodies in Ukraine — including a “Council of Elders” and a “Supreme Spiritual Council” — and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Ukraine also handed over Vasyl Mekheda, a former employee in the Ukrainian Cabinet’s Secretariat who had worked as an informant for Russian intelligence for roughly 15 years. Others included Ukrainians who had collaborated with Russian-installed authorities in occupied territories, informed on Ukrainian Armed Forces positions, or posted pro-Russian content on social media. Among them, for example, was a 61-year-old resident of Kherson who had worked as a driver for the city’s police department during the occupation.
Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said that of the 120 civilians released by Ukraine, “100 were political prisoners and 20 were Kursk residents.” The latter were pensioners from border areas of Russia’s Kursk region that Ukrainian forces occupied in the summer of 2024 and held until spring 2025. Asked why refugees were included in the exchange, an unnamed lawyer told Agentstvo they had likely “not returned earlier because it would have been logistically difficult without assistance.”
Who was (not) handed over to Ukraine?
Military personnel
Among the Ukrainian soldiers freed in the exchange, 311 had been held prisoner since 2022, 122 since 2023, and 150 since 2024, according to the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War (POWs). The agency also noted that the exchange brought home troops from 46 Ukrainian Armed Forces units from which Russia had previously returned no one.
However, none of the released prisoners were from the Azov Brigade, which defended Mariupol in 2022. “This feels like mockery — a cruel joke at the expense of those who have been held in Russian captivity for more than three years under the harshest conditions and inhumane pressure. A jeer at their families, loved ones, and brothers-in-arms. A show of derision towards those who were given guarantees — those who have an absolute right to be prioritized for exchange, because they went into captivity not at their own will, but by order of the High Command,” said Denys Prokopenko, commander of the Azov National Guard Brigade.
Andriy Yusov, deputy head of the Coordination Headquarters, said the exchange was arranged in haste and that each side decided who they deemed necessary to return. He suggested Russia is intentionally withholding “sensitive” prisoners to sow division within Ukraine. The Kremlin has other reasons for keeping Azov fighters hidden, added Oleksandra Romantsova, executive director of Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties — for one, they serve as “living proof” of Russia’s war crimes.
However, Moscow apparently sent back Anatolii Taranenko — a former Ukrainian soldier who defected to the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in 2021 and later became a fixture in Russian propaganda. His inclusion in the exchange surprised even Oleg Tsaryov, a former Donbas separatist leader (who is wanted in Ukraine). “It’s impossible to explain why they spent so long promoting this prisoner, only to trade him back,” Tsaryov commented. Ukrainian soldiers also expressed outrage at the return of “that scumbag.” In response to the criticism, Yusov reiterated, “We could not influence the list,” and said Ukrainian law enforcement would take up Taranenko’s case.
Civilians
Russia’s exchange list included not only no Azov fighters but also no civilians imprisoned before 2022. “Some of these people were helping our intelligence services back when most of those who care now didn’t give a damn about what was happening in Donbas. I don’t know if there’s anyone in this 11-year war who’s been held longer. […] The length of captivity is an objective criterion. And if the state is retrieving civilians — which it is — it’s unacceptable to ignore those who’ve been imprisoned the longest,” said Ukrainian writer and journalist Stanislav Aseyev, who himself spent two and a half years in captivity in the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic.
There was also disappointment that civilians detained in occupied territories after 2022 for being deemed “disloyal” were not included in the exchange. These individuals — according to various estimates between 7,000 and 18,000 — often simply vanish. They’re held in isolation and in appalling conditions, often without formal charges. They can be exchanged for Ukrainian civilians convicted of collaboration, or for Russian civilians — but both groups are rare in Ukraine, which is why, according to the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of POWs, only 174 people in this category have been freed so far.
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Of the 120 civilians handed over by Moscow, “not a single one was someone Russia wouldn’t have deported anyway,” Mykhailo Savva, an expert at the Center for Civil Liberties, told Agentstvo.
According to human rights activists, those returned to Ukraine were people who had served prison sentences either in the occupied territories (and had been transferred to Russia) or in Russia itself for crimes unrelated to the war. After completing their sentences, they were slated for deportation. Before the war, they could have returned home on their own — but now, they’re held for years in Russia’s temporary detention centers for foreign nationals.
Mediazona spoke with several civilians who were part of the exchange. One of them, 48-year-old Serhiy Rasputnyi, had served 13 years for murder. After his release in the fall of 2024, he was sent to a temporary detention center for foreigners in Tambov, Russia. According to Rasputnyi, Ukrainians awaiting deportation had been returned home in the past — but unofficially. They weren’t included on formal exchange lists and were released as something of an “add-on.” Why Russia chose to officially include them in this latest exchange remains unclear.
