Ukraine and Russia have exchanged an unspecified number of prisoners of war in line with the negotiations held in Istanbul on June 2, Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for Prisoner of War Affairs reported on Thursday.
The exchange marked the seventh swap of hostages after the Istanbul agreement that stipulated the return of up to 6,000 prisoners of war. The released Ukrainians include soldiers of Ukrainian Armed Force, National Guard, and State Border Guard Service. Among them are also defenders of embattled Mariupol, National Guardsmen who had been captured at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the early months of the war. The majority of released servicemen were under the age of 25 and had been held in captivity since the start of Russia’s full-fledged invasion in 2022. The oldest of PoWs is 62.
This marked the seventh prisoner exchanged with the latest one taking place on June 20 and overseeing the return of severely wounded and seriously ill prisoners, some suffering from gangrene and from untreated wounds and tuberculosis. The exact number of the exchanged prisoners of war will be revaled after the swap is completed due to security reasons, the spokesperson for the Coordination Headquarters for Prisoner of War Affairs said.
Russia has returned remains of 6,057 fallen Ukrainian soldiers between June 11 and 16, although there are concerns that around 20 Russian corpses had been included in the exchange. Last week, Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelenskiy said Russia’s sending its soldiers’ bodies underlined Kremlin’s disregard for its own soldiers.
Earlier on Thursday, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that once all of the exchanges agreed during the second round of Istanbul negotiation are completed, discussions on the timings of a third round of meetings can begin.
