Talks in Istanbul concluded: Ukraine and Russia agree on all-for-all exchange for two categories of PoWs

Following a meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Istanbul on Monday 2 June, the parties have reached an agreement on the next prisoner exchange, which will involve seriously wounded and young soldiers.

Source: Ukraine’s Defence Minister Rustem Umierov, who heads the Ukrainian delegation, at a briefing, as reported by European Pravda; Interfax-Ukraine with reference to the deputy head of Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence, Vadym Skibitskyi

Details: Umierov noted that Monday's meeting was the first time that Ukraine had seen Russia's proposals for a ceasefire and an end to the war. Moscow has yet to respond to Ukraine's proposals.

"Our teams will have a week to review the documents, after which we will be able to coordinate next steps," he said.

The defence minister also said that the parties have agreed to "focus on specific categories rather than numbers" regarding the release of prisoners of war.

"We have agreed on an all-for-all exchange of seriously wounded and seriously ill prisoners of war. The second category is young soldiers between the ages of 18 and 25, all-for-all as well. We have also agreed on a 6,000-for-6,000 exchange of bodies of fallen soldiers," he said.

Vadym Skibitskyi, the representative of Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence, added that agreements on a specific exchange mechanism had been reached in Istanbul:

"Today, we have made new progress – the so-called all-for-all format. Today, we agreed on two categories [of prisoners of war] that will be subject to return to their homeland, we agreed on the mechanisms, and we determined the preliminary terms of this exchange."

Skibitskyi said that it will be necessary to conduct many verifications and determine all categories so that no one is lost or forgotten.

Umierov confirmed that Ukraine has given Russia a list of several hundred Ukrainian children who have been deported to the Russian Federation and is waiting for Moscow to take action on this.

Another item on the agenda was organising a leader-level meeting, possibly involving other leaders such as the US president.

"We believe that further work between the delegations makes sense if it is aimed at preparing for a meeting between state leaders. We have proposed to the Russian side that a leader-level meeting should be held by the end of this month, between 20 and 30 June. This is very important for the negotiation process," Umierov added.

Background:

• The meeting – the second between the delegations from Ukraine and the Russian Federation – lasted for just over an hour. The first meeting was held on 16 May.
• Before the negotiations with the Russians, Ukraine’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Serhii Kyslytsia and Oleksandr Bevz, a member of the Ukrainian delegation, met with representatives of three of Ukraine's European partners – Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.

This news has been updated since publication.

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