By Thomas Peter and Olena Harmash
KYIV/MOSCOW, May 15 (Reuters) - Russia and Ukraine swapped 205 prisoners of war each on Friday, part of an agreement linked to a three-day ceasefire earlier this month brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said it was the first step in a bigger prisoner of war swap, after Kyiv and Moscow had agreed to swap 1,000 POWs each under the terms of the agreement.
"205 Ukrainians are home. Most of them had been in Russian captivity since 2022," Zelenskiy said on the Telegram app, posting pictures of smiling servicemen, many wrapped in Ukrainian flags.
Standing near a bus together with other soldiers and wrapped in the blue-and-yellow national flag, Yevhen Yeremenko, a serviceman, said he was happy to return after waiting for his freedom for four years.
"It's a great pity it took so long. But some boys remain there. They are waiting and hoping. They hope that their motherland will get them out of there," he told Reuters as he devoured an apple.
"We must bring them back. Four years are difficult. Do not forget them!"
Ukraine's HUR military intelligence said that many of the returned servicemen had been held captive after the months-long defence of Mariupol, a southeastern port city that fell to Russia in 2022.
HUR said Kyiv had managed to bring home several dozen officers in addition to soldiers and sergeants.
The two sides also conducted an exchange of those killed in the fighting, with Russia handing 526 bodies to Ukraine and receiving 41 in return.
Both Kyiv and Moscow thanked the United Arab Emirates for mediating the swap.
Russia's Defence Ministry said its servicemen were located in Belarus, where they were provided with necessary support.
PEACE EFFORTS HAVE STALLED
POW exchanges have become one of the main tangible results of the U.S.-brokered peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
The talks on how to end the war, now in its fifth year, have stalled despite the May 9-May 11 ceasefire. The ceasefire, which began on the anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, was marred by reports of violations from both sides.
Hours after it ended, Russia launched its longest and largest aerial attack on Ukraine, firing more than 1,500 drones and dozens of missiles and killing more than 30 people in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. Kyiv has also carried out drone attacks on targets in Russia, aiming to knock out oil refineries, depots and pipelines.
(Reporting by Reuters in Moscow and Kyiv; Writing by Lucy Papachristou and Olena Harmash, Editing by Daniel Flynn, Andrew Osborn and Timothy Heritage)
