8 hours agoUkraine, Russia exchange nearly 800 prisoners
Periskopi(a year ago)
(a year ago)Russia and Ukraine have launched the largest exchange of prisoners since the beginning of Russia's full occupation, exchanging hundreds of soldiers and civilians in a process expected to continue over the weekend, officials from both countries said Friday. “We are bringing our people home”, the president said. [...]
Russia and Ukraine have launched the largest exchange of prisoners since the beginning of Russia's full occupation, exchanging hundreds of soldiers and civilians in a process expected to continue over the weekend, officials from both countries said Friday.
“We are turning our people home”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post in the telegram.
The first share of the 1,000-person exchange agreement has been implemented”, he indicated.
Zelensky said 390 people on each side were exchanged, and that exchange is expected to continue on May 24th and 25th, reports REL, broadcast Periscope.
According to the Russian Defence Ministry, 270 prisoners of war and 120 civilians were involved in this number.
The Russian ministry stated that the 120 Russians returning to Russia included residents of the Kursk region, which Ukraine occupied last August.
The exchange of 1,000 people from each side would constitute the largest exchange of prisoners since the beginning of Ukraine's full occupation by Russia.
Previous exchanges have not brought visible progress towards the end of the war.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump declared that Ukraine and Russia had just completed a major exchange of prisoners.
A major exchange of prisoners has just ended between Russia and Ukraine. It will soon take effect”, Trump wrote on his Social Truth platform on Friday.
On Thursday, Zelensky said the agreement for a exchange of prisoners “1.000 for 1,000” was “probably the only real result of” of a 90-minute meeting in Istanbul on 16 May.
It was the first direct peace meeting between Ukrainian and Russian officials since the start of Ukraine's imminent invasion of Russia in February 2022.
Zelensky said the parties had exchanged lists of prisoners that could be included in the deal.
Russia has rejected calls from Ukraine, the United States and European countries for a 30-day ceasefire, and no new meeting has been scheduled.
Russia and Ukraine have conducted several exchanges of prisoners since the beginning of the occupation. /Periscope/
