Ukraine and Russia exchanged prisoners on Wednesday in the ninth such swap between the two sides since they each agreed at their first direct talks, held in Istanbul in May, to hand over 1,000 prisoners.
Wednesday's exchange was announced at the end of a meeting between delegations representing Kyiv and Moscow at the Çırağan Palace in Istanbul, Turkey, and confirmed on X by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
"Today, already the ninth stage of the exchange agreed in Istanbul took place," Zelenskyy said. "Seriously ill and severely wounded defenders are returning home. Across all stages of the recent Istanbul agreements, we have managed to bring back more than 1,000 of our people."
Delegations met for less than an hour - Russian media
Wednesday's talks began with a one-on-one meeting between the two countries' chief negotiators, former Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov and Vladimir Medinsky, a senior aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
This was followed by the third round of talks between delegations representing the two countries. That meeting ended in less than an hour, according to Russian news agencies, which reported that it would not continue.
Tass news agency said not only military personnel but also civilians would be exchanged. It cited a source as describing the swap as the "most important outcome" of the meeting.
Before the start of Wednesday's round of talks, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had urged the negotiators to bring an end to their “bloody war.”
“Our aim is to end this bloody conflict as soon as possible,” Fidan said, emphasizing that “the ultimate goal is a ceasefire paving the way to peace.”
'A difficult conversation'
The Turkish minister had also expressed gratitude to the Russian and Ukrainian presidents for demonstrating the will to organise the negotiations, in addition to extending thanks to US President Donald Trump.
Other than the prisoner exchange, little else appeared to have come out of the meeting. However, this was arguably not a surprise. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had managed expectations earlier this week, while Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov had stated that it would be “naturally a very difficult conversation.”
It had previously been reported that the main topic was to be the continuation of the prisoner exchanges, but that other subjects could also be discussed if necessary.
A source within the Ukrainian negotiation team had expressed hope for a “constructive stance” from Russia. In addition to prisoner swaps, the delegation intended to discuss the repatriation of Ukrainian children abducted to Russia, and a potential meeting between the presidents of the two countries, the source stated.
