Latest news with #IstanbulTalks
Russia Today
20 hours ago
- Politics
- Russia Today
More Russian POWs brought back from Ukraine
Russia and Ukraine exchanged more prisoners of war on Friday, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. A similar swap was carried out the previous day. The ministry's statement did not specify the number of troops returned by each side but did contain footage of more than a dozen Russian soldiers boarding a bus. Both exchanges were conducted based on an agreement that Moscow and Kiev reached during their direct talks in Istanbul earlier this month, the ministry noted. In both cases, the Russian soldiers were transported to Belarus, where the ministry said they were offered psychological and medical care before being returned to Russia for rehabilitation. Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky also reported the exchange while likewise declining to provide any numbers. The humanitarian exchanges since the June 2 negotiations have also included repatriation of the remains of slain soldiers. Russia has returned the remains of over 6,000 Ukrainian soldiers and received 57 in return.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ukraine receives 1,200 more war dead bodies from Russia
Another transfer of 1,200 bodies from Russia was received by Ukraine as part of an exchange agreement that was struck in Istanbul talks earlier this month, Ukrainian officials announced on Sunday. "Another 1,200 bodies which the Russian side claims belong to Ukrainian citizens, including military personnel, were returned to Ukraine," the coordination headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war in Kyiv reported, adding that the bodies would have to be forensically identified. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov announced on Facebook that a total of 4,812 bodies have been returned this week. "I am grateful to everyone involved in this humanitarian mission," he said. Ukraine has not commented whether it has sent any bodies to the Russian side. Russian news outlets also reported on the handover, which was part of a series of agreements reached between the two warring sides in Istanbul on June 2, that included also several prisoner exchanges. According to the media reports, Russia did not receive any of its fallen soldiers from Ukraine on Sunday. Russia plans to return the bodies of 6,000 Ukrainians. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, neither Moscow nor Kyiv has typically disclosed its military losses. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told NBC, a US news channel, earlier this year that more than 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died and some 380,000 were hurt. Russia has not disclosed the number of its military fatalities since September 2022, when it reported that fewer than 6,000 soldiers had died. This figure is widely considered to be significantly lower than the actual number of casualties. Multiple independent investigations have reported significant losses of life among Moscow's army, using open sources such as death announcements that local officials and family members published. The Russian website Mediazona and the BBC's Russian service claim to have identified the names of approximately 111,000 deceased Russian soldiers. Edited by: Jenipher Camino Gonzalez
Free Malaysia Today
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Ukraine, Russia swap first prisoners in large-scale exchange
Russian POWs cheer on a bus after returning from captivity at an undisclosed location in Belarus. (Russian defence ministry/AP pic) KYIV : Russia and Ukraine today swapped a first group of captured soldiers – part of an agreement reached during peace talks that appeared to be in doubt over the weekend. The deal to exchange prisoners of war and repatriate the bodies of killed fighters was the only concrete agreement reached at the talks, which have failed to lead to a breakthrough towards ending the three-year war. Progress has stalled. Russia has issued tough conditions for halting its invasion and has repeatedly rejected calls for an unconditional ceasefire. 'Today an exchange began, which will continue in several stages over the coming days,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media. He posted images of soldiers draped in Ukrainian flags, cheering and hugging. 'Among those we are bringing back now are the wounded, the severely wounded, and those under the age of 25,' he added. Russia's defence ministry also confirmed the swap was part of 'agreements reached on June 2 in Istanbul'. Neither side said how many prisoners were released. After the talks in Istanbul, both said it would involve more than 1,000 captured soldiers, making it the largest exchange of the three-year war AdChoices ADVERTISING The swap itself had appeared in jeopardy over the weekend, when Moscow and Kyiv traded accusations of delaying and thwarting the planned exchange. Zelensky accused Russia yesterday of playing a 'dirty, political game' and of not sticking to the agreed parameters – to free all captured soldiers that are sick, wounded or under the age of 25. Russia said Kyiv was refusing to take back bodies of dead soldiers, 1,200 of which it said were waiting in refrigerated trucks near the border. Talks 'pointless' Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine triggered the biggest European conflict since World War II, forced millions to flee their homes and decimated much of eastern and southern Ukraine. Pressed by US President Donald Trump to end the conflict, the two sides have opened direct negotiations for the first time in more than three years in search of an agreement. But they appear as far apart as ever from an agreement. In Istanbul on June 2, Russia demanded Ukraine withdraw its forces from areas still under its control, recognise Moscow's annexation of five Ukrainian regions and renounce all western military support. Kyiv is seeking a full ceasefire and a summit between Zelensky, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump to try to break the impasse. While welcoming POW exchanges, Zelensky said last week said it was 'pointless' to hold further talks with the current Russian delegation – who he previously dismissed as 'empty heads' – since they could not agree to a ceasefire. Meanwhile fighting on the frontlines and in the skies has intensified. Russia said yesterday its troops had crossed into Ukraine's industrial Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time in its campaign – a potentially key advance given that Moscow has not put forward a territorial claim to that region. And Moscow launched a record 479 drones at Ukraine overnight, Kyiv's air force said today. The Ukrainian mayor of the western city of Rivne, Oleksandr Tretyak, called it 'the largest attack' on the region since the start of the war. Russia said it had targeted an airfield near the village of Dubno in the Rivne region. It called the attack 'one of the retaliatory strikes' for a brazen drone attack by Ukraine on June 1 against Russian military jets stationed at air bases thousands of kilometres behind the frontline. Kyiv also claimed responsibility for an attack on a Russian electronics factory overnight, saying it manufactured parts for drones. Russian officials said the site had been forced to temporarily suspend production after a Ukrainian drone attack.
Reuters
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Russia and Ukraine swap more prisoners of war, Moscow says
MOSCOW, June 10 (Reuters) - Russia and Ukraine exchanged more prisoners of war on Tuesday, the Russian defence ministry said, without giving details of the numbers involved. The exchange was agreed between the two sides at talks in Istanbul last week, and an initial swap of prisoners under the age of 25 was conducted on Monday. The defence ministry in Moscow said the Russians freed in the latest handover were currently in Belarus, which borders both the warring countries, and would be returned to Russia for medical treatment and rehabilitation. Earlier, the Kremlin said it had been ready for several days to start handing over the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers killed in the war, but that Kyiv was still discussing the details. The planned transfer of thousands of war dead was the other tangible result of the Istanbul talks, which resumed last month after a gap of more than three years but have made no progress towards a ceasefire. Russia has said it is ready to hand over the bodies of more than 6,000 Ukrainian soldiers and receive any bodies of Russian soldiers which Kyiv is able to return. But Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky said on Saturday that the Russian side had shown up at the agreed exchange point with the bodies of 1,212 Ukrainian dead soldiers only to find nobody from Ukraine to take them. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused Moscow of "trying to play some kind of dirty political and information game" around the issue of the exchanges. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday: "There is no final understanding. Contact is being made, numbers are being compared. As soon as there is a final understanding, then we hope this exchange will take place." Russian state media has broadcast images of long white refrigerated trucks, containing bodies sealed in individual white bags, parked up near the border.
ABC News
10-06-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners of war in emotional homecoming scenes
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war under the age of 25 in emotional homecoming scenes, the first step in a series of planned prisoner swaps that could become the biggest swap of the war so far. The exchange was the result of direct talks between the two sides in Istanbul on June 2 that resulted in an agreement to exchange at least 1,200 prisoners of war (POWs) on each side and to repatriate thousands of bodies of those killed in Russia's war in Ukraine. The return of POWs and the repatriation of the bodies of the dead is one of the few things the two sides have managed to agree on as broader negotiations have failed to get close to ending the war, now in its fourth year. Fighting has raged on, with Russia saying on Monday its forces had taken control of more territory in Ukraine's east-central region of Dnipropetrovsk and Kyiv saying Moscow had launched its largest drone attack of the war. Officials in Kyiv said some of the Ukrainian prisoners who came home on Monday had been in Russian captivity since the beginning of the war. At a rendezvous point for the returning Ukrainian prisoners, soon after they crossed back into northern Ukraine, an official handed one of the freed men a cell phone so that he could call his mother, a video released by Ukrainian authorities showed. "Hi mum, I've arrived, I'm home!" the soldier shouted into the receiver, struggling to catch his breath because he was overcome by emotion. The released Ukrainian men were later taken by bus to a hospital in northern Ukraine where they were to have medical checks and be given showers, food and care packages including mobile phones and shoes. Jubilation was tinged with sadness because outside the hospital were crowds of people, mostly women, looking for relatives who had gone missing while fighting for Ukraine. The women held up pictures of the missing men in the hope that one of the returning POWs would recognise them and share details about what happened to them. Some hoped their loved ones would be among those released. Oksana Kupriyenko, 52, was holding up an image of her son, Denys, who went missing in September 2024. "Tomorrow is my birthday and I was hoping God will give me a gift and return my son to me," she said, through tears. Neither side has said how many prisoners had been swapped on Monday, but the Russian Defence Ministry said in its own statement that the same number of military personnel had been exchanged on each side. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the exchanges under discussion with Russia would be conducted over several stages. "The exchange process is expected to take more than a single day. The details of the process are quite sensitive," he said. "That's why there is currently less information than usual." Mr Zelenskyy also said Ukrainian forces were engaged in heavy fighting near Pokrovsk in the east and inside Russia's Kursk region and also in Ukraine's Sumy region, where Russian forces were trying to establish a presence in several border villages. Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky said at the weekend that a first list of 640 POWs had been handed to Ukraine. The Russian military said its returned servicemen were now in Belarus, a close Russian ally, where they were receiving psychological and medical assistance before being transferred to Russia for further care. Footage broadcast by Russia's RIA state news agency showed a group of freed Russian soldiers on board a coach raising their hands in the air and shouting: "Hurrah, we're home." The same group was shown holding a Russian flag and chanting "Russia! Russia!" before boarding the coach. "It is very difficult to convey what I'm feeling inside now. But I am very happy, proud and grateful to everyone who took part in this process, in the exchange and bringing us home," said one freed Russian soldier. Both sides say the intention for this round of prisoner swaps is also to hand over people who are gravely ill or severely injured. The people seen being handed over so far on Monday appeared to be fit and well. Reuters
