Moscow and Kyiv exchange prisoners of war in first round of fresh swap

Russia and Ukraine have carried out the first round of a fresh prisoner swap in which they exchanged soldiers under 25, the Russian Defence Ministry and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Monday.

Moscow did not specify how many prisoners had been swapped in the exchange that took place on the border between Belarus and Ukraine, only stating that both sides had exchanged an equal amount.

Zelensky, in turn, said that the exchange would take place over several days, and would include gravely wounded prisoners as well as soldiers under 25, as was agreed during the latest round of negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv on 2 June.

On Sunday, Russia transferred some 1,212 bodies of Ukrainian servicemen to the Russian-Ukrainian border, General Alexander Zorin, a member of the Russian delegation to the Istanbul talks, said in a video shared by state-owned news agency TASS.

However, Zorin said that there were “signals” that the repatriation of bodies would be postponed until later this week, as Moscow did not receive confirmation from Kyiv that it was ready to receive the bodies.

Vladimir Medinsky, the leader of the Russia’s delegation in Istanbul, said following the talks last week that Russia would “unilaterally” hand over 6,000 bodies of dead Ukrainian soldiers to Kyiv, and that it was ready to receive “some bodies” of Russian soldiers from the Ukrainian side, though he said he did not know the exact number.