Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine has captured more than 10,000 russian servicemen, and their number is growing every day.
It was reported by the project "I Want to Live" of the Coordination Center for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
In less than half of 2025, the number of captured russian military exceeded the total of 2022 and 2023. On average, 60-90 russian soldiers surrender every week, while in August 2024 this figure reached 350 people.
Since June 2023, russian soldiers have been surrendering more often than Ukrainian soldiers have been surrendering to russia. The largest number of prisoners was recorded in the Pokrovsk and Bakhmut Districts of the Donetsk Region, as well as in the Kursk Oblast of the russian federation and the Polohy district of the Zaporizhzhia Region.
Foreign mercenaries and the structure of prisoners
In 2025, the share of foreigners among prisoners increased sharply: 2-3 people are mercenaries from third countries every week. In total, almost 7% of all russian prisoners are citizens of about 40 countries
By rank: 83% are privates, 13% are sergeants, and almost 3% are officers. The age of the prisoners is from 18 to 65 years. 76% are contract soldiers, including those recruited in prisons and private military companies, 19% are mobilized, and almost 5% are conscripts.
About 24% of the prisoners reported being forced or deceived into going to war. 40% have criminal records, mostly for theft, drugs, robbery, assault and violent crimes. Only 7% have higher education, almost 30% did not finish school, and 38% did not have a job before the war. Almost half of the prisoners have children. Some soldiers are in captivity with severe chronic illnesses, including HIV, tuberculosis, diabetes and mental disorders.
Exchanges and re-engagement at the front
A little over 6,000 prisoners of war have been returned to russia as part of exchanges, most of them in 2025. At the same time, at least 237 former prisoners of war were returned to the front after the exchange and died or went missing.
According to the Coordination Center, russia mostly takes ethnic russians from captivity without serious injuries and with a short period of captivity. Moscow usually does not take foreign mercenaries into account when exchanging them.
Recall that two soldiers of the 67th separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine captured six russian soldiers in the Dnipropetrovsk Region during a strike and search operation in the Oleksandrivka direction.
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