Ukraine, Russia conduct fourth prisoner exchange this week
Kyiv is continuing efforts to bring home its citizens held captive by Russia, marking the fourth prisoner exchange in a week, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on June 14.
"Today, among those returning to Ukraine, many have been in captivity since 2022," Zelensky said. "These include soldiers from the Armed Forces, National Guard, State Border Guard Service, and the State Special Transport Service."
The exchanges are part of the agreement reached during talks held in Istanbul earlier this month, where both sides agreed to phased prisoner swaps and repatriation of fallen soldiers.
The latest group freed on June 14 mainly consists of severely wounded and seriously ill soldiers, many of whom were captured during the defense of Mariupol in 2022.
Most of the released defenders are officers, with some younger than 25 years old. These Ukrainian defenders served on multiple fronts including Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, Kherson, Kharkiv, Sumy, and Kursk directions, the Coordination Headquarters for Prisoners of War stated.
Ukraine has brought home another group of service members from Russian captivity on June 12. The prisoners of war (POWs) were also released as part of a prisoner exchange with Russia agreed upon during recent peace talks in Istanbul.
The June 12 release follows a similar exchange on June 10, which also prioritized severely injured and ill captives. As during the previous swap, the number of personnel released was not immediately disclosed.
The Istanbul deal was reached during a second round of direct talks between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations on June 2. While no political breakthrough was achieved, both sides agreed to a phased exchange of prisoners and the repatriation of fallen soldiers' bodies. As part of that agreement, Russia pledged to return the bodies of up to 6,000 Ukrainian service members.
Ukraine brought back the bodies of 2,412 Ukrainian nationals, including fallen service members, on June 13 and June 11, as well as 1,200 on June 14.
Despite ongoing exchanges, Ukraine continues to push for an "all-for-all" formula to bring every captured Ukrainian soldier home, a proposal Moscow has so far rejected. The Coordination Headquarters said preparations are underway for the next phase of prisoner releases in the coming weeks as Kyiv maintains its commitment to recovering all those held captive.
The freed defenders will undergo medical examinations, receive physical and psychological rehabilitation, and be granted all entitled compensation for their time in captivity, according to the Coordination Headquarters.
In a conversation with journalists, Zelensky expressed hope that the prisoner exchanges would be completed by June 20 or 21.
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