Nine Russians were taken prisoner on their first day at war — whom Ukraine handed over to R...

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Nine Russians were taken prisoner on their first day at war — whom did Ukraine hand over to Russia on 23 October 2026?

On Friday, the third stage of the eighth prisoner-of-war exchange in 2026 took place. Ukraine handed over 270 people to Russia. Their names appeared on the “I Want to Return” website immediately after the exchange.

The lists give the servicemen’s dates of birth, personal numbers, units, and time spent in captivity. This data makes it possible to analyze exactly which Russian Armed Forces servicemen were taken prisoner and returned to Russia on 23 October.

Nearly 57% of the prisoners of war served as riflemen. Among the rest, the most common positions were squad and platoon commanders, drivers, and machine gunners.

Half of the servicemen handed over to Russia were captured in Donetsk Oblast. Another 50 were captured in Kharkiv Oblast.

More than half of the list—137 servicemen—were aged 35 to 44. Another 58 were aged 18 to 24. This is Russia’s most economically productive population, which could have started families and developed the economies of their own regions. But instead, they went to war against Ukraine.

217 servicemen signed contracts with the Russian Armed Forces. Each had their own reasons, but most often Russians go to war for money or to avoid prison.

16% of those on the list had not worked anywhere before joining the Russian Armed Forces. The rest earned money in construction, as general laborers, or as drivers. For them, money was the main motivation for signing a contract. Interestingly, only 19 of the 270 prisoners of war acknowledged that they went to war because of ideology imposed in Russia. But even they admit that the reason for signing a contract was not only “patriotism,” but also the banal desire to earn money.

Nearly 30% of the servicemen had criminal convictions before joining the Russian army. The most common charges included theft, robbery, drug-related crimes, grievous bodily harm, and murder.

Only 19 prisoners of war have higher education. Seventeen of them are officers who graduated from specialized higher-education institutions. At the same time, 16% of the prisoners of war on the list do not even have a secondary education.

The absolute majority of the Russian servicemen on the list were captured before they had spent even a month at war. For nine people, the day they were captured was their very first day at war. Yet they spent a considerable amount of time in captivity. Statistics show that Russia is in no hurry to bring its servicemen home, so nearly all the servicemen on the list spent six months or more in captivity.

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