UKRAINE is working to resume prisoner exchanges with Russia that could bring home 1,200 Ukrainian prisoners, President Volodymyr Zelensky said today, a day after his national security chief announced progress in negotiations.

“We are counting on the resumption of POW exchanges,” Mr Zelensky wrote on X. “Many meetings, negotiations and calls are currently taking place to ensure this.”

Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council secretary Rustem Umerov said on Saturday that he held consultations mediated by Turkey and the United Arab Emirates on resuming exchanges.

He said that the parties agreed to activate prisoner exchange agreements brokered in Istanbul to release 1,200 Ukrainians.

Moscow did not immediately comment on the claim.

The Istanbul agreements refer to prisoner-exchange protocols established with Turkish mediation in 2022 that set rules for large, co-ordinated swaps. Since then, Russia and Ukraine have traded thousands of prisoners, though exchanges have been sporadic.

Mr Umerov said that technical consultations would be held soon to finalise procedural and organisational details.

In other developments, energy infrastructure was damaged by Russian drone strikes overnight into Sunday in Ukraine’s Odessa region, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said. A solar power plant was among the damaged sites.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Sunday that its forces shot down 57 Ukrainian drones during overnight raids.