Ukraine and Russia carried out this Monday the postponed exchange of prisoners of war under 25 years of age agreed upon in the second round of peace negotiations held a week ago in Istanbul. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the completion of the first phase of the process, which he described as "quite complicated." According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the exchange was carried out in line with what was agreed in the Turkish city. The Moscow regime entity did not specify the number of prisoners exchanged or the date of the next exchanges, which will be carried out in an "all for all" format, but will not be less than 1,000, as previously reported by Russian chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky. "Currently, the Russian servicemen are on the territory of Belarus, where they are being provided with the necessary psychological and medical assistance," the Russian military command added. According to the Ministry of Defense, and as it has stated in all its previous statements on this matter, “all Russian servicemen will be transferred to Russia to receive medical care and rehabilitation in medical centers of the Ministry of Defense.”

“Sensitive details”

Zelensky, for his part, noted that “negotiations continue practically every day” to make the return home of more soldiers in captivity a reality, but acknowledged that it is a rather complicated process, since - he stated - “there are many sensitive details.” The prisoners of war that will be released are both the wounded and those under 25 years old, the president indicated.

This first stage of the exchange takes place amid a controversy surrounding Russia’s return of 6,000 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers who fell in combat. This Saturday, Russia's chief negotiator accused Ukraine of "indefinitely postponing" the return of bodies, to which kyiv urged "not to create artificial obstacles and false statements" to hinder the exchange process.