Jun 10, 2025 09:20 PM IST
The two nations have completed tow rounds of the prisoners of war exchange deal achieved in Istanbul. However, Russia, Ukraine continue to attack one another.
Russia and Ukraine said Tuesday they had exchanged captured soldiers, the second stage of an agreement struck at peace talks last week for each side to free more than 1,000 prisoners.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday’s exchange saw “the return of our injured and severely wounded warriors from Russian captivity.”
Neither side said how many soldiers had been freed in the swap — the second in as many days following another exchange on Monday.
The two sides had agreed in Istanbul last week to release all wounded soldiers and all under the age of 25.
Russia’s defence ministry said: “In accordance with the Russian-Ukrainian agreements reached on June 2 in Istanbul, the second group of Russian servicemen was returned.”
Zelensky said further exchanges would follow.
“The exchanges are to continue. We are doing everything we can to find and return every single person who is in captivity.”
The agreement had appeared in jeopardy over the weekend, with both sides trading accusations of attempting to thwart the exchange.
Russia says Ukraine has still not agreed to collect the bodies of killed soldiers, after Moscow said more than 1,200 corpses were waiting in refrigerated trucks near the border.
Russia said it had agreed to hand over the remains of 6,000 killed Ukrainian soldiers, while Kyiv said it would be an “exchange”.
Moscow and Kyiv have carried out dozens of prisoner exchanges since Russia invaded in 2022, triggering Europe’s largest conflict since World War II.
