Donald Trump has suggested that ‘something significant’ is forthcoming in Ukraine, and disclosed that both Moscow and Kyiv have agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war from each side.

The American president mentioned on his social media platform, Truth Social: ‘A significant prisoner exchange was recently carried out between Russia and Ukraine. It will be implemented soon.’

‘Congratulations to both sides on this negotiation. This could lead to something big???’

According to Ukrainian officials, who spoke to the Financial Times, the deal will involve each side transferring 1,000 prisoners, as decided during peace discussions in Turkey, which Vladimir Putin did not attend.

The swaps will reportedly take place over three days. While most of the prisoners being handed back to each side will be military personnel, some will be civilians.   

White House and National Security Council officials did not immediately respond to requests for further details.

The exchange was agreed last week in the first direct Russia-Ukraine peace talks since the early weeks of Moscow’s 2022 invasion of its neighbor. 

That meeting in Turkey lasted just two hours and brought no breakthrough in international diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting.

 Despite the positive steps, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov continued to stoke tensions, telling reporters today that Moscow would not allow Russian-speakers in Ukraine to remain under the rule of what he called a ‘junta’ led by President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Lavrov said it would be a ‘crime’ for Russia to allow this to happen. He added that the simplest way to settle the conflict would be for the international community to demand that Ukraine cancel laws discriminating against Russian-speakers.

Kyiv denies any such discrimination.

Lavrov’s comments highlighted Russia’s insistence, in any peace talks, on enforcing the same demands it made at the very start of the war.

Earlier this month, Russia and Ukraine swapped 205 POWs as part of an exchange mediated by the UAE. 

Countless Ukrainian soldiers are being held in horrific conditions in Russian prisoners, and are being subjected to physical and moral torture, sexual violence, illegal sentencing and violent execution according to former POWs.

Volodymyr Labuzov, chief medical officer of the 36th Marine Brigade, was one of them. He was stationed in Mariupol when Russia started its full-scale invasion in early 2022.

Labuzov told Euronews that along with soldiers, Vladimir Putin’s nation has been holding thousands of Ukrainian civilians, including children, captive ‘who have nothing to do with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and they should be returned without any conditions, without any agreements.’

‘Russia doesn’t make any difference between the soldiers and civilians in their captivity’, Labuzov told the outlet. 

He added that most of the civilians being held by Russia were kidnapped from ‘the territories that Russia allegedly liberated and allegedly brought them happiness and freedom. But the treatment is the same for both civilians and military personnel.’

Currently, it is not known exactly how many civilians are being held by Russia.  

‘They are now forced into such conditions that if you want just to live or to even walk the streets of your villages, you must take Russian citizenship. Without Russian citizenship – you are a nobody, you have no rights,’ Labuzov said.