12AUG

Russia and Ukraine each free 160 soldiers

1 min read

14:52UTC

Russia and Ukraine each freed 160 soldiers on 26 June in an Emirati-brokered exchange; the freed Russians had been held in Belarus.

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ConflictDeveloping

Key takeaway

The humanitarian swap track keeps working while ceasefire talks stall, and the freed Russians came from Belarus.

Russia and Ukraine each freed 160 soldiers on 26 June in an exchange brokered by the United Arab Emirates, The Gulf state that has mediated several swaps in the war⁠¹. The freed soldiers had been held since 2022, and the released Russians had been held on Belarusian soil⁠².

The exchange continues a track that has kept moving even as ceasefire talks stalled. Istanbul Round 2 on 2 June agreed a 1,200-for-1,200 swap, and Ukraine completed the war's largest single exchange, a 1,000-prisoner deal, on 24 May. The Emirati channel has been the constant facilitator across the conflict, producing agreed lists faster than the Russia-Ukraine bilateral track alone. That the released Russians were held in Belarus threads this swap back into the week's Belarus story.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Russia and Ukraine swapped prisoners of war again, 160 soldiers each, on 26 June. The exchange was arranged with help from the United Arab Emirates, which has repeatedly stepped in to broker these swaps throughout the war. The freed Russian soldiers had been held in Belarus rather than Ukraine, a detail that shows how tangled up Belarus has become in the war despite formally staying out of the fighting.

What could happen next?

Meaning
That freed Russian soldiers were held in Belarus, not Ukraine, underlines how deeply Minsk's territory and personnel are entangled in the war despite formal non-belligerence.

Sources:Euronews

Mentions:Russia →Ukraine →Belarus →United Arab Emirates (UAE) →Istanbul →

First Reported In

Update #22 · Belarus relays go dark on Kyiv's deadline

Euronews· 2 Jul 2026

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Causes and effects

Caused by

Istanbul Round 2: prisoners, no truce

The 160-for-160 swap continues the exchange track opened by the Istanbul Round 2 prisoner deal.

Occurred 2 Jun 2026

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War's biggest prisoner swap is completed

The exchange extends the pattern of large prisoner swaps following the 24 May 1,000-prisoner exchange.

Occurred 24 May 2026

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This Event

Russia and Ukraine each free 160 soldiers

The swap keeps the one working humanitarian channel open, and the Belarus detention detail ties it back to the week's central story.

Different Perspectives

Russia

Russia vetoed the same renewal on 17 September, arguing that Britain, France and Germany never validly triggered the snapback that reimposed the pre-2015 UN resolutions. No panel was ever seated under that mandate, so the UN list decays fastest for states that screen against it rather than against the American one.

China

China vetoed renewal of the UN sanctions monitoring mandate on 17 September, arguing that Resolution 2231 terminated on 18 October 2025 and that the Security Council should drop Iran's nuclear file altogether. On that reading there is nothing to monitor, so the sanctions survive and their enforcement does not.

Iraq

Baghdad saw the last American counter-Islamic State troops leave its territory on 30 September, completing a timetable it agreed with Washington in September 2024. Iraqi airspace deconfliction passes to Baghdad, which still has an open inquiry into the Maysan drone launches that has named nobody.

Pakistan

Treasury names Waseem Pasha Tajammal of Rawalpindi as the Cavalier group's chairman and places one of the designated incorporations in Islamabad. QatarEnergy separately told Pakistan that liquefied natural gas cargo cancellations would run through November, so Islamabad carries an enforcement question and a supply gap at once.

Turkey

Treasury named a Cavalier Dynamics company incorporated in Istanbul among the ten nodes it designated on 29 September, and Ankara has published no response. Turkey imported a record 120,000 barrels a day of Indian diesel in August, cutting Russia's share of its diesel imports to 20 per cent.

India

Suraj Yadav, a wiper from Uttar Pradesh, was killed aboard the Cape Dao on 23 September, and 19 of the ship's 20 Indian crew were taken off alive. India's September imports ran at 575,000 barrels a day from Iraq and 566,000 from Saudi Arabia, back to pre-conflict rates.