During the prisoner-of-war exchange between Ukraine and Russia on October 23—a "270-for-270" swap—not a single Crimean prisoner of war or political prisoner returned to Ukrainian-controlled territory. Meanwhile, six Russian service members from Crimea were sent to Russia. This was reported on October 24 by Eskender Bariiev, head of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, in a Facebook post citing information from Yana Lantratova, a Russian official involved in human rights matters.

The Crimean Tatar Resource Center asserts that Russia continues to persecute Ukrainian military personnel from Crimea. Specifically, this concerns the case of the Noman Çelebicihan Battalion, in which occupation authorities are prosecuting 87 individuals—including 16 service members from the 48th Separate Assault Battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

"Their release must not be overlooked in the negotiation process. Ukraine must consistently push for the return of its service members who defended the state—especially those being prosecuted by Russia in connection with the Noman Çelebicihan Battalion case. Every Ukrainian prisoner of war must return home. Crimea must not be left out of consideration when compiling exchange lists!" stated Bariiev.

The October 23 exchange saw the return to Ukraine of 61 service members from military unit 3057, including 35 fighters from the "Azov" Special Operations Detachment. According to the unit's commander, Denys Prokopenko, these individuals had spent over four years in Russian captivity following the 86-day defense of Mariupol. Among those released was Ukrainian serviceman Renat Khayrullin, who had been held captive since 2022. His father, Vagiz, had spent five years awaiting his son’s return; he participated in rallies in support of prisoners of war and traveled to prisoner exchange sites, hoping to see his son among those being freed.

Crimean Tatars make up more than half of the political prisoners from Crimea currently held in Russian detention facilities. According to data from the Crimean Tatar Resource Center published in August 2025, the center has documented 431 individuals from the peninsula who have been imprisoned or prosecuted on criminal charges—249 of whom are Crimean Tatars. At that time, 277 political prisoners from Crimea were being held in Russian custody, including 157 members of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people.

As of October 14, 2026, according to the Crimean Platform, 322 people—including 171 Crimean Tatars—had been subjected to politically motivated prosecution in occupied Crimea. Among those prosecuted are four Crimean Tatar women: Esma Nimetulaeva, Elviza Alieva, Nasiba Saidova, and Fevziye Osmanova. They were detained in October 2025. The Russian prosecutor’s office has submitted a case to an occupation court in which the women are accused of allegedly organizing a cell of a terrorist organization and preparing to seize power. This marks the first case involving women in connection with "Hizb ut-Tahrir."

Lists of Crimean political prisoners, including their names, are published by the Crimean Tatar Resource Center and the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People. In September 2026, the CRC also provided the Vatican with lists of Crimean Tatars who are in Russian captivity, being held illegally, or are missing, in order to facilitate their release and return to Ukraine.