A new group of war prisoners was exchanged on Monday, June 9, between kyiv and Moscow on Monday, as agreed last week for a second cycle of Russian-Ukrainian peace conversations in Istanbul, Russia announced. This exchange will continue in the “next days”, according to Volodymyr Zelensky.
“A first group of Russian soldiers under 25 has been repatriated from the territory under the control of the kyiv regime. In return, the same number of Ukrainian army soldiers has been transferred,” said the Russian Ministry of Defense in a statement.
The number of soldiers exchanged was not specified for safety reasons, according to Kyiv. The Ukrainian president said on social networks, following the Russian announcement, that this exchange only “began” and that “it will take place in several stages in the next few days.”
Referring to a “quite complex process”, Volodymyr Zelensky explained that “negotiations continue practically every day.”
An exchange agreed during conversations in Istanbul
At the end of the negotiations between kyiv and Moscow in Istanbul on June 2, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had assured that the two parties had agreed with an exchange of prisoners that would take place this weekend, while Russia had said it was ready for Saturday, Sunday or Monday.
It was one of the only points of agreement found during these conversations, in addition to an upcoming exchange of several thousand bodies of soldiers killed in combat.
On Saturday, Moscow said he had transmitted a list to Ukraine, which, according to her, does not “correspond” to the terms of the agreement, while the two fields had agreed to free all the prisoners of war seriously injured or sick, as well as those under 25 years.
Russia and Ukraine have accused of interrupting the exchange, which is supposed to be the most important of the war after a previous one had worried a thousand people on each side in May.
According to the Coordination Center of War Prisoners of the Ukraine War, it is the 66th exchange of prisoners between kyiv and Moscow since the beginning of the great Russian invasion on a large scale in February 2022.
Source: BFM TV
