Russias Defense Ministry stated Friday that it had actually performed another prisoner exchange with Ukraine under contracts reached throughout direct peace talks in Istanbul last month.On July 4, in accordance with the Russian-Ukrainian contracts in Istanbul on June 2, another group of Russian military personnel was repatriated from area under the control of the Kyiv routine, the ministry stated in a statement.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later on verified the exchange, stating most of the returned Ukrainian service members had remained in Russian captivity since 2022.
Exchanges should continue, and I thank everyone who makes this possible.
Ukraines objective is to bring all our individuals home, Zelensky composed on Telegram.Neither side disclosed the number of detainees exchanged.Russias state-run TASS news firm, mentioning an anonymous source, reported it was an equivalent exchange and consisted of 2 civilians from the Kursk area.
Zelensky validated that civilians were among the Ukrainians returned, together with soldiers, National Guard members and border guards.During the June 2 talks in Istanbul, Russia and Ukraine consented to exchange more than 1,000 injured or ill service members, along with those under the age of 25.
Before Friday, both countries had actually carried out a minimum of seven exchanges, with the previous one happening on June 26.
Russia said Friday that its soldiers were transferred to Belarus, where they are getting psychological and medical assistance.The exchange was revealed just hours after Ukraine implicated Russia of launching its biggest air attack of the war, while Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian area eliminated one elderly lady and left 10s of thousands without power.