Russia OKs prisoner exchange with U.S.

The U.S. and Russia have agreed to a prisoner swap amid tensions rising between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war with Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced the swap on Tuesday in Turkey, NBC News reported.

“President Trump is a man who wants results,” Mr. Lavrov said.

No other details regarding the swap were announced. The Washington Times reached out to the White House for comment.

If the swap goes through, it will be the third prisoner swap with Russia since the start of Mr. Trump’s second term. American teacher Marc Fogel was returned in February after 3 1/2 years in Russian prison, and Russian-American ballerina Ksenia Karelina was flown back to the U.S. last month.

The two were swapped for Alexander Vinnik, a Russian cryptocurrency expert, and Arthur Petrov, a Russian-German national arrested on smuggling charges in the U.S., respectively.

Mr. Trump has not been happy with how the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have crawled along.

In a social media post Tuesday, Mr. Trump said that what the Russian president “doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD.”

“He’s playing with fire!” Mr. Trump added.

In a Sunday post, Mr. Trump issued one of his harshest critiques of Mr. Putin, saying he’s gone “absolutely CRAZY” after Russia blitzed Ukraine on Saturday with drones and missiles that targeted over 30 cities and villages.

“I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him,” he wrote.

“He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever,” the president wrote. “I’ve always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that’s proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia!”

Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov chalked the comments up to “emotional overload.”

Russia’s latest attack on Ukraine came after a prisoner swap was decided on during peace talks in Turkey.

During last year’s presidential campaign, Mr. Trump promised to end the war in 24 hours. He has grown increasingly frustrated that Ukraine and Russia aren’t ending the killing.

On Sunday, he posted that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “is doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does. Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop. This is a War that would never have started if I were President. This is Zelenskyy’s, Putin’s, and Biden’s War, not ’Trump’s,’ I am only helping to put out the big and ugly fires that have been started through Gross Incompetence and Hatred.”

While in the Middle East two weeks ago, Mr. Trump said the war wouldn’t end until he met with Mr. Putin. While they’ve spoken on the phone, no meeting date has been scheduled.

Allies of Ukraine, including the U.S., have lifted restrictions on the range of missiles fired by Kyiv.

“There are no longer any range restrictions on weapons supplied to Ukraine. Neither from the British, nor from the French, nor from us. Nor by the Americans,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said at an event held by the German public broadcaster WDR.

“That means Ukraine can also defend itself by, for example, attacking military positions in Russia,” Mr. Merz said.

The Kremlin quickly denounced the decision, calling it “rather dangerous,” Russian news agency TASS reported.

“If such decisions are made, they will absolutely go against our aspirations to reach a political settlement and the efforts being made within the framework of the settlement,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Mr. Zelenskyy is expected to head to Berlin on Wednesday to meet with Mr. Merz. The two are expected to discuss how Europe can help advance the peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.

Mr. Zelenskyy is also expected to meet with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.