Russia, Ukraine start new exchange of prisoners of war
The two sides agreed during a recent meeting to swap soldiers aged 18 to 25, as well as seriously wounded or ill prisoners, and to return the bodies of fallen soldiers
Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners of war under the age of 25 on Monday in emotional homecoming scenes, the first step in a series of planned prisoner swaps that could become the biggest of the war so far.
The move was agreed earlier this month during direct negotiations in Istanbul between representatives from both countries.
The return of POWs and the repatriation of the bodies of the dead is one of the few things the two sides have been able to agree on, even as their broader negotiations have failed to get close to ending Russia’s war in Ukraine, 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.
Neither side disclosed the exact number of individuals involved.