Ukrainian official says major prisoner swap with Russia is underway

WASHINGTON AP U S President Donald Trump disclosed Friday that Russia and Ukraine carried out a large exchange of prisoners from their more than three-year war A Ukrainian official stated the swap was ongoing but not yet complete Moscow did not straightaway confirm the exchange was underway A major prisoners swap was just completed between Russia and Ukraine Trump reported on the Truth Social platform He commented it would go into effect shortly although it was not clear what that meant A senior Ukrainian official familiar with the details of the swap declared that the exchange was ongoing Friday morning and has not finished yet He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly This could lead to something big Trump added in his post apparently referring to international diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting White House and National Defense Council authorities did not at once 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 invasion of its neighbor That meeting in Turkey lasted just two hours and brought no breakthrough in international diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting Follow AP s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https apnews com hub russia-ukraine Source