Russia and Ukraine exchanged 84 prisoners of war each on 14 August, the latest in a series of swaps that have become one of the few areas of direct cooperation between the two countries since Moscow’s full-scale invasion began more than three years ago. The Russian Ministry of Defense said the returning Russian service members were receiving medical and psychological care after arriving in Belarus. Kyiv confirmed the deal, with President Volodymyr Zelensky stating that the group of 84 Ukrainians included both soldiers and civilians—some detained as far back as 2014—as well as troops who defended the port city of Mariupol in 2022. Both sides credited the United Arab Emirates with brokering the exchange, continuing a mediation role the Gulf state has played in previous swaps. Thousands of prisoners have been traded this year under understandings reached during three rounds of talks in Istanbul between May and July. The handover came a day before Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska, a summit expected to address prospects for ending the conflict. While large-scale diplomacy remains stalled, the steady cadence of prisoner exchanges underscores the limited but continuing channels of communication between Moscow and Kyiv.