DECODING: 1,000 for 1,000 Exchange — 160 Ukrainian Soldiers Freed, the 75th Return Since 2022

June 26: a day of hard-won reunions

On June 26, 2026, 160 Ukrainian military personnel set foot on free soil again after months or years of captivity in Russian prisons and detention camps. This is not an abstract number. These are 160 lives wrenched from the arbitrariness of occupation — defenders of Mariupol and Azovstal, soldiers from the fronts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy. Among them, 115 defenders of Mariupol — some of whom have been waiting since the summer of 2022 to see their families again. 58 officers. The youngest is 26; the oldest, 66.

This is the third phase of the "1,000 for 1,000" exchange program, and the 75th exchange since the full-scale invasion began in 2022. President Volodymyr Zelensky personally announced the soldiers' return, declaring: "We continue to bring Ukrainians home from Russian captivity. Today, 160 military personnel were released from captivity. All had been held captive since 2022."

The 1,000-for-1,000 format: what is it?

The "1,000 for 1,000" program is a large-scale exchange agreement between Ukraine and Russia, facilitated by the humanitarian mediation of the United Arab Emirates. The objective is the exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each side, carried out in several phases. The first phase took place on May 15, 2026, with more than 200 Ukrainians released. The second phase was held on June 5, with 185 soldiers and one civilian. The third phase on June 26 adds 160 military personnel. The sum of these three phases already approaches 550 soldiers — more than half the target of 1,000.

These numbers are dry and cold in a news article. But behind each freed soldier, there is a family that has not slept for months from waiting. There are physical and psychological wounds that months or years of detention inflict. These exchanges are necessary — but they should not have to be necessary.

Abu Dhabi as a negotiation channel between Kyiv and Moscow

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) have played a role of humanitarian mediation in prisoner exchanges between Ukraine and Russia since 2022. This role is all the more remarkable because Abu Dhabi maintains commercial and diplomatic relations with both parties — a pragmatic neutrality that allows it to serve as an intermediary where Western powers, clearly positioned in favour of Ukraine, could not.

This Emirati mediation is a striking illustration of the recomposition of global geopolitical balances. In an ideal world, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) would play this role — the organization mandated by international law to protect prisoners of war. But Russia refused to grant the ICRC regular access to Ukrainian prisoners, forcing the search for alternative channels.

Blocked humanitarian access: a violation of international law

Russia's refusal to grant regular ICRC access to Ukrainian prisoners of war is a flagrant violation of the Third Geneva Convention, which requires detaining powers to facilitate supervision of detention by neutral organizations. Multiple reports from human rights organizations document degrading detention conditions, inhumane treatment, and cases of torture in Russian facilities holding Ukrainian prisoners. These practices constitute documented war crimes.

Russia refuses ICRC access to its Ukrainian prisoners. It violates the Geneva Convention. And yet it exchanges prisoners when it suits it politically — proving it is capable of respecting these rules when it chooses to. This selective respect for international law deserves to be named for what it is: calculated cynicism.

115 Mariupol defenders among those freed

The presence of 115 defenders of Mariupol among the 160 freed on June 26 carries particular symbolic weight. The defenders of Mariupol and the Azovstal industrial complex became the icon of Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion. In May 2022, soldiers of the Azov regiment and other units entrenched in the Azovstal tunnels held out for weeks against a far numerically superior Russian army, allowing Ukraine to consolidate its defences elsewhere and demonstrate to the whole world its determination to fight.

Their surrender — negotiated under humanitarian guarantees that were never fully honoured — was a moment of national Ukrainian grief. Every Azovstal defender freed since then is a symbolic victory answering Zelensky's promise: "We will come back for every one of them."

Reported detention conditions

Public reports, testimony from prisoners freed in previous exchanges, and investigations by human rights organizations paint a dark picture of detention conditions in Russian facilities holding Ukrainian prisoners. Mistreatment, malnutrition, lack of medical care, psychological torture — this testimony converges consistently and is documented by independent sources. It must be noted that I cannot directly access the prisoners freed on June 26, and their specific testimony is not yet public at the time of writing.

115 Azovstal defenders freed. Each of them lived under threat of death for weeks in 2022, then under the reality of Russian captivity for months or years. I have no words adequate to the scale of what they endured. What I know is that they deserve every form of care, rehabilitation, and recognition that Ukraine can offer.

How does a prisoner exchange work?

A prisoner-of-war exchange between two active belligerents is logistically and diplomatically complex. First, identifying which prisoners each side wants back and which it is prepared to release. Then negotiating the ratio — how many for how many — and the conditions of the exchange. Then securing a physical space for the transfer, often on third-party territory or on a defined front-line crossing, with security guarantees for transport convoys. Finally, carrying out the actual transfer, often at night for security reasons, under neutral observer supervision.

In the case of Ukraine–Russia exchanges, the United Arab Emirates provided the diplomatic channels for preliminary negotiations, and Abu Dhabi's neutral space was used for certain coordination phases. The fact that these exchanges happen regularly — the 75th since the invasion began — demonstrates that an operational channel is maintained despite a total war.

Zelensky's proposal for an "all for all" exchange

Beyond the "1,000 for 1,000" format, President Zelensky proposed to Putin an "all for all" exchange — the immediate release of the entirety of prisoners on both sides. Russia did not accept this proposal. Its refusal is telling: Russia uses Ukrainian prisoners as diplomatic bargaining chips and as a pressure lever, controlling the rate of releases according to its current interests. A total exchange would eliminate that leverage — something Moscow is not willing to accept.

Putin refuses an "all for all" exchange. He prefers to hold Ukrainian prisoners as strategic hostages, releasing a few hundred at a time as a calculated goodwill gesture. This is the manipulation of human suffering as a political tool. No euphemism should exist for that.

Seoul wants back the North Korean soldiers captured

The prisoner question took on an unprecedented dimension with the participation of North Korean soldiers on the Russian side of the fighting. When Ukraine captured North Korean soldiers on the battlefield, the question of their legal status and their destination in the event of an exchange arose in an entirely novel way. On June 23, 2026, South Korea declared that it would accept all North Korean prisoners of war captured by Ukraine — a position that creates a diplomatic opportunity for Seoul to gather intelligence on the North Korean military and possibly offer captured soldiers an alternative to a forced return to North Korea, where they would face severe punishment for having been captured.

Discussions between Ukraine and South Korea on North Korean prisoners were confirmed on June 23, 2026. This trilateral dimension of the prisoner question — Ukraine, Russia, North Korea, South Korea — adds additional diplomatic complexity to an already extraordinarily complex situation.

The strategic implications of captured North Korean soldiers

Captured North Korean soldiers represent a trove of intelligence for Ukrainian and Western intelligence services on the organization, capabilities, and tactics of the North Korean army. Their presence on the Ukrainian battlefield is the first operational demonstration of North Korean soldiers outside the Korean peninsula in real combat conditions. The information they can provide about their training, equipment, chain of command, and morale carries strategic value that extends far beyond the Ukrainian conflict.

North Korean soldiers captured in Ukraine, which South Korea wants to receive. It is the kind of scenario that would seem drawn from an overly improbable geopolitical novel if it were not the reality of June 2026. The war in Ukraine has connected geopolitical fronts that no one would have imagined seeing converge.

How many prisoners have been freed in total?

June 26, 2026 marked the 75th exchange since the full-scale invasion began. Adding up previous exchanges and the three phases of the "1,000 for 1,000" program, several thousand Ukrainian soldiers have been freed since 2022. However, the exact number of Ukrainian prisoners still held in Russia remains uncertain. Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War works with a database of missing and confirmed detainees that is continuously updated — but the exact figures are not made public for operational reasons.

It is known that thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have been captured since 2022 — some estimates suggest several tens of thousands. Compared to the pace of exchanges, a very high number of soldiers remain to be freed. For the families who are waiting, each exchange is simultaneously a joy and a painful reminder that their loved ones may still be in captivity.

Care for freed soldiers

All soldiers freed in exchanges immediately receive medical care, psychological evaluations, administrative documentation assistance, and financial compensation payments. A rehabilitation program has been established by the Ukrainian government to support freed prisoners in their return to civilian or military life. This care is essential: testimony from previous exchanges describes prisoners showing signs of severe malnutrition, untreated injuries, and deep psychological trauma.

Medical care after captivity, psychological rehabilitation, the recovery of a broken life — that is the invisible work Ukraine does for its freed soldiers. That work deserves recognition. Just as what made that care necessary deserves to be denounced.

Testimony documenting torture and mistreatment

Ukrainian prisoners freed since 2022 have provided testimony painting a dark picture of detention conditions in Russian prisons and camps. Reports from organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the International Committee of the Red Cross systematically document cases of torture, deprivation of food and water, physical and psychological violence. These violations of international humanitarian law constitute documented war crimes, for which the International Criminal Court maintains open case files.

The situation of Azovstal defenders — some of whom were held in particularly harsh conditions because of their symbolic value for Russian propaganda — received special international attention. Their progressive release through exchanges represents both a humanitarian success and a moral obligation that Ukraine is fulfilling toward its soldiers who fought with exceptional courage in the steel of Mariupol.

Legal implications for Russian officials

Evidence of mistreatment documented on Ukrainian prisoners feeds the case files at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which has already issued arrest warrants against several senior Russian officials, including Vladimir Putin. These files constitute a long-term accountability mechanism — even if their enforcement in the near future is unlikely, they create an important legal precedent and limit the movements of the concerned officials in countries that recognize ICC jurisdiction.

For the families of Ukrainian prisoners, the prospect of international justice is a partial but real consolation. It means that the crimes committed against their loved ones will not simply be forgotten or erased in a future peace negotiation — they will be part of a permanent judicial record that history cannot ignore.

Every Ukrainian prisoner tortured in Russia is an additional case file for the International Criminal Court. Justice is slow, but it moves forward. And Russian officials are beginning to understand that the world will not simply let them move on.

Exchanges as a tool of diplomatic signalling

Beyond their humanitarian dimension, prisoner exchanges constitute one of the few channels of direct communication between Ukraine and Russia since the complete breakdown of diplomatic relations. Every exchange requires minimal coordination, contacts between intermediaries, and a tacit agreement on operational procedures. In this context of total war, these interactions paradoxically represent a space of indirect contact that keeps essential lines of communication open.

The role of the United Arab Emirates as mediator in these exchanges illustrates the recomposition of global diplomatic balances. Abu Dhabi, which maintains relations with both parties, has established itself as a valuable interlocutor in several international crises. Its capacity to play this mediating role is directly linked to the UAE's relative non-alignment — a position that the West should encourage rather than constrain.

The 75 exchanges and Ukrainian persistence

Seventy-five exchanges accomplished since 2022. That number, which may seem technical, actually represents 75 negotiations, 75 complex logistics operations, 75 moments when Ukrainian families learned that their loved one was on the way home. Behind each number there are names, stories, mothers waiting, children growing up without their father. Ukraine has never abandoned its prisoners — that should be stated clearly and loudly.

Ukraine's persistence in negotiating exchanges, even during the darkest periods of the conflict, is an example of what it means to honour one's soldiers. Zelensky made the release of prisoners an explicit national priority — not as a concession to Russia, but as a duty to those who risked and sacrificed their lives defending their country. It is a moral posture that contrasts sharply with how Russia treats its own captured soldiers.

Seventy-five exchanges. Hundreds of families reunited. As many proofs that Ukraine honours its commitments to its soldiers, even under the most difficult conditions. It is the moral contract of a nation that deserves to be defended.

Zelensky's commitment that does not waver

President Zelensky has made the return of all Ukrainian prisoners one of his stated priorities since the invasion began. Every exchange is announced personally by the president — a political signal of the weight given to this commitment. The declaration by Kyrylo Budanov, head of military intelligence, that further exchanges would take place in the coming days, confirms that negotiations are actively continuing.

The road still ahead

Despite the 75th exchange and the 1,000 soldiers freed under the current program alone, the road to bringing back all prisoners is still long. Russia holds prisoners as a pressure instrument and releases them in dribs and drabs. The proposal for an "all for all" exchange remains a dead letter. But every soldier who comes back — the youngest 26 years old, the oldest 66 — is a victory wrenched from a system that wanted to forget them. Ukraine will not forget.

Bringing its soldiers home is an act of national dignity that Ukraine performs with admirable determination, despite the war and despite Russian bad faith. Every successful exchange is a moral victory as much as a military one.

By Maxime Marquette, columnist

Editorial stance

I am not a journalist but a columnist and analyst. My expertise lies in observing and analysing the geopolitical, economic and strategic dynamics that shape our world. My work is to take political strategies apart, to understand global economic movements, to put the decisions of international actors in context and to offer analytical perspectives on the changes that are redefining our societies.

I do not claim the cold objectivity of traditional journalism, which stops at reporting facts. I claim analytical clarity, rigorous interpretation and a deep understanding of the complex issues that concern us all. My role is to give meaning to the facts, to place them in their historical and strategic context, and to offer a critical reading of events.

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