Russia, Ukraine confirm new prisoner swap under deals reached at recent Istanbul peace talks

“Today, warriors of our Armed Forces, National Guard, and Border Guard Service are back home … This is already the second stage of bringing back severely wounded and seriously ill warriors,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X.

Zelenskyy added that Kyiv continues to work to bring its people held by Russia back to Ukraine, going on to thank “everyone” who is helping make the exchanges possible.

Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on Telegram that some of the prisoners returned to Kyiv were held captive from the first days of the ongoing conflict, now in its fourth year, noting that the oldest of them is 59 years old, while the youngest is 22.

Russia’s Defense Ministry also confirmed the exchange in a statement on Telegram, saying that a group of its servicemen was returned in exchange for a group of Ukrainian servicemen.

“Currently, Russian servicemen are on the territory of the Republic of Belarus, where they are receiving the necessary psychological and medical assistance,” the statement said, adding that they will then be transferred to Russia for treatment and rehabilitation.

The ministry later issued another statement, declaring Russia's readiness to conduct the swaps agreed upon in Istanbul "on a daily basis," but claimed that the Ukrainian side is "not ready to conduct exchanges in the same operational mode."

No details were provided by either Russian or Ukrainian authorities on the number of prisoners swapped.

Kyiv has not immediately responded to the ministry's latest statement.

On June 2, Istanbul hosted the second round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine after the first one, also in the Turkish metropolis, on May 16.

In the latest talks, the two sides agreed to exchange more prisoners of war—focusing on the youngest and most severely wounded—and return the bodies of 6,000 fallen soldiers from each side.

Both Russia and Ukraine confirmed on Monday that the first round of exchanges under the agreements reached in Istanbul had taken place.