In May, as part of the return of Ukrainian civilians to Russia, Russian citizens who had been evacuated from the Kursk region were sent back.
This was announced by Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, during a press conference, as reported by a correspondent of UNN.
Details
We did not exchange anyone. 120 civilians (of Ukraine – ed.) returned. Our proposal was that civilians should return without any conditions. As part of this return, Russian citizens who had been evacuated from the Kursk region returned from the territory of Ukraine to the territory of the Russian Federation
The Ombudsman emphasized that Ukraine has never set conditions for exchanges.
The evacuation procedure took place, we, as a state, never created any obstacles to the return of Russian civilians to Russia. We see that the Russians continue to use this
He also reported that 5,757 Ukrainians, including 294 civilians, had been returned since the beginning of the full-scale war as of June 2025.
Addition
In May, as part of the prisoner exchange under the "1000 for 1000" formula, 120 Ukrainian civilians were returned.
On June 26, as part of the agreements of the second meeting of the Kyiv and Russian delegations, a group of defenders under 25 years old, as well as defenders who were wounded and have health problems, were returned to Ukraine.
Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, stated that large prisoner exchanges with Russia are still ongoing.