Ukraine urges Russia to honor Istanbul prisoner exchange agreement
Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War has called on Russia not to delay the prisoner exchanges agreed upon in Istanbul.
“Ukraine is strictly adhering to the agreements reached in Istanbul on prisoner exchanges and hopes Russia is ready to do the same. Today, following another successful stage of exchanging severely wounded and seriously ill prisoners, Russia claimed that Ukraine is not prepared for ‘daily exchanges’,” the statement reads.
Ukraine regards such claims as manipulation and disinformation from Russia, which has accompanied every stage of the exchanges agreed upon in Istanbul.
The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War clarified that Russia actually proposed postponing the exchanges to later dates, but Ukraine’s negotiation team insisted the exchanges proceed. The exchanges are scheduled to take place in the coming days.
Kyrylo Budanov, Head of the Defence Intelligence of Ukrainealso noted that officials expect the next stage of the exchange to begin shortly.
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By way of background, at the negotiations in Istanbul on June 2, Ukraine and Russia agreed on a 6,000-for-6,000 exchange of bodies of fallen soldiers. The Ukrainian and Russian delegations also agreed on an all-for-all exchange of seriously wounded service members and those aged 18-25.
On June 9, the first group of released servicemen under the age of 25 returned to Ukraine from Russian captivity as part of the first stage of the 66th prisoner exchange.
On June 10, Ukraine brought back from Russian captivity a group of defenders who had suffered severe injuries and have serious health conditions.
On June 11, Ukraine received the bodies of 1,212 fallen defenders through repatriation efforts.
The Coordination Headquarters emphasized that for security reasons, it will announce the exact number of released service members after completing the exchange process.
