Russia, Ukraine conduct another round of prisoner exchange

Moscow, Aug 24 (IANS) Russia and Ukraine on Sunday exchanged another 146 prisoners, the Russian Defence Ministry said.

Ukraine also returned eight residents of Russia's Kursk region. The area was briefly seized by Ukraine in a surprise attack in August 2024, before Russian forces recaptured it earlier this year.

The Russian servicemen are in Belarus receiving psychological and medical assistance before being transported to Russia, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The United Arab Emirates mediated the exchange.

The third round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine was held in Istanbul on July 23. After the talks, Russian Presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky said both sides had agreed to exchange at least 1,200 prisoners each.

Earlier in July, Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners of conflict as delegations of the two countries held their third round of direct talks in the Turkish city.

The swap was conducted in accordance with the agreements both sides reached during their last talks on June 2 in Istanbul, the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement.

Russia and Ukraine held two rounds of direct talks on May 16 and June 2 in Istanbul.

During the second round, they agreed on an "all-for-all" exchange of seriously ill and wounded prisoners, and soldiers under the age of 25, as well as the transfer of the bodies of fallen soldiers.

More than 1,000 Ukrainian servicemen have returned home in accordance with the Istanbul agreements, according to Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

"We have progress on the humanitarian track, with no progress on a cessation of hostilities," Ukraine's chief delegate Rustem Umerov said after talks that lasted just 40 minutes.

Russia's chief delegate Medinsky said the point of a leaders' meeting should be to sign an agreement, not to "discuss everything from scratch".

He renewed Moscow's call for a series of short ceasefires of 24-48 hours to enable the retrieval of bodies.

Ukraine said it wants an immediate and much longer ceasefire.

--IANS

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