Russia and Ukraine exchange 7 civilians each in humanitarian swap

Russian Human Rights Commissioner Yana Lantratova announced that 7 Russian citizens, including 5 from the Kursk region, returned to the country as part of humanitarian efforts with Ukraine. Ukraine also announced that 7 of its civilians returned home in the same swap.

Scraper SystemJune 27, 2026, 10:05 PM

Russia and Ukraine exchange 7 civilians each in humanitarian swap

Russia and Ukraine facilitated the return of 7 civilian citizens each to their countries through a humanitarian operation on the Belarus border. The swap was made possible through direct contacts between the human rights ombudsmen of the two countries.

Russia highlights Kursk

Russian Human Rights Commissioner Yana Lantratova stated in a statement on her Telegram channel that as a result of humanitarian efforts with the Ukrainian side, 7 Russian citizens returned home. Lantratova said, "Among those returning to their homeland today are residents of the Kursk region. They were detained during the entry of the Ukrainian Armed Forces into the region."

Lantratova noted that in addition to the 5 people returning from the Kursk region, 2 more people from other regions of Russia were brought to the country under this scope. The Russian official added that a total of 171 people from the border region have been brought back from Ukrainian territory so far, but the fate of 320 people is still unknown.

Profile of returnees to Ukraine

Ukrainian Parliament Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets, in a post on his own Telegram channel, confirmed that 7 Ukrainian civilians returned home. Lubinets emphasized that this result was achieved thanks to direct humanitarian diplomacy with his Russian counterpart Yana Lantratova.

Lubinets announced that the civilians returning to Ukraine are between the ages of 35 and 66 and were detained during the conflicts in 2022 in Mariupol, Kyiv's Bucha district, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Luhansk regions. The Ukrainian official thanked the Security Service of Ukraine, the Foreign Intelligence Service, and other institutions working under the Coordination Center for their contributions to the operation.

This civilian swap came immediately after the prisoner exchange between the two countries on June 26, carried out with a "160 for 160" formula.

Russia and Ukraine exchange 7 civilians each in humanitarian swap