Putin said that no proposals were sent from Ukraine for a “1,000-for-1,000” prisoner exchange
Putin said during a press conference on May 9 that Ukraine was not ready for the prisoner exchange previously announced by US President Donald Trump. His statement was quoted by Russian media.
The Russian President said that despite the agreements reached under US mediation on a large-scale exchange of prisoners of war between Ukraine and Russia in the “1000 for 1000” format during May 9-11, the Ukrainian side had not contacted him with specific initiatives for the exchange. According to him, Russia had previously handed over a list of 500 Ukrainian prisoners of war to Ukraine, but they had not received a response from Kyiv.
Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov had previously told Russian media that preparing for the exchange would take time, as the lists needed to be agreed. He also claimed that Moscow had begun compiling the lists even before the announcement of the ceasefire and had handed them over to the Ukrainian side, but, according to him, there had been no reaction from Kyiv. The agreements on the exchange were reached through US mediation, and the implementation of the process depends on the ability of the American side to act as a guarantor.
The day before, Donald Trump announced an agreement on a three-day “truce” between Ukraine and Russia for May 9-11, and also announced a large-scale exchange of prisoners in the “1000 for 1000” format. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed information about the upcoming exchange. However, despite the announced “truce”, the Russians continued to attack Ukraine.
