‘Could lead to something big,’ says Trump as Russia, Ukraine swap prisoners

US President Donald Trump congratulated both Ukraine and Russia as they began their major prisoner swap on Friday. This prisoner swap comes after their first direct talks in more than three years. 

"Congratulations to both sides on this negotiation. This could lead to something big???," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

However, Kyiv and Moscow did not confirm anything. But a military source told Reuters that the prisoner swap was still under way. 

Russia and Ukraine agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners each during two hours of talks in Istanbul last week. However, they did not agree to a ceasefire proposed by Donald Trump. Previous prisoner swaps were mediated by the United Arab Emirates.

The prisoner swap was the only concrete step towards peace agreed upon at the Istanbul talks. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides are believed to have been wounded or killed in the conflict, which is Europe's deadliest war since World War Two. Neither side has published accurate casualty figures. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians have also died as Russian forces have besieged and bombarded Ukrainian cities.

Ukraine has said it is ready for a 30-day ceasefire immediately. Russia, which launched the war by invading Ukraine in 2022 and now occupies about a fifth of the country, has said it will not pause its assaults until certain conditions are met. 

Trump, who has shifted US policy from supporting Ukraine towards accepting some of Russia's account of the war, said he could tighten sanctions on Russia if Moscow blocked a peace deal. After speaking to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, he decided to take no action for now. Moscow says it is ready for peace talks while fighting continues. It wants to discuss what it calls the war's "root causes", including demands that Ukraine cede more territory, be disarmed, and be barred from military alliances with the West.