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The Kyiv Independent’s contributor Ignatius Ivlev-Yorke spent a day with a mobile team from the State Emergency Service in Nikopol in the south of Ukraine as they responded to relentless drone, artillery, and mortar strikes from Russian forces just across the Dnipro River. Nikopol is located across from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the city of Enerhodar.

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All-for-all prisoner exchange could be step toward peace, Zelensky says

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All-for-all prisoner exchange could be step toward peace, Zelensky says
Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, during a news conference with Olaf Scholz, Germany's chancellor at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin, Germany, on June 11, 2024. (Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Russia releasing all of its Ukrainian captives would be a good step toward peace, President Volodymyr Zelensky said at the Support Ukraine summit on Feb. 24.

"Ukraine is ready for an all-for-all exchange, it is a fair option," Zelensky said in an address to world leaders.

The comments come amid growing expectations of peace talks in 2025 amid U.S. President Donald Trump's push for a swift ceasefire.

Russia and Ukraine have held a number of prisoner swaps throughout the full-scale war, most recently on Feb. 5, when 150 Ukrainian soldiers were brought back from Russian captivity.

Ukraine does not reveal the exact figures on how many Ukrainian prisoners of war (POW) are held in Russia. According to Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, Russia holds over 16,000 Ukrainian civilians.

Moscow has also deported or forcibly displaced over 19,500 Ukrainian children, transporting them to Russia, Belarus, or other Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine.

"Thousands of people are being held in Russia. And some of them have been held not only since 2022, but much earlier, since 2014," Zelensky said.

Ukraine floated the idea of an all-for-all prisoner exchange already back in 2024, but Russia has not agreed to the proposal.

Ukrainian drones reportedly strike Russian refinery in Ryazan Oblast for 3rd time in 2025
The Ryazan Oil Refining Company’s facility was previously struck overnight on Jan. 24 and Jan. 26.
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Martin Fornusek

Senior News Editor

Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.

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