Russia Says Ukraine Talks Yielded a Prisoner Swap Deal and an Agreement to Keep Talking
Russia said on Friday that the first direct talks with Ukraine in more than three years had yielded a deal to swap 1,000 prisoners of war each soon and to resume talks after each side had set out its vision for a future ceasefire.
In a short statement shown live on Russian state TV after the negotiations in Istanbul had wrapped up, Vladimir Medinsky, the head of Russia’s delegation, said that Moscow was satisfied with progress made and was ready to keep talking to Kyiv.
“In general, we are satisfied with the result and are ready to continue contacts. In the coming days, there will be a massive thousand-for-thousand prisoner exchange,” said Medinsky.
That would be one of the largest exchanges of its kind since Russian President Vladimir Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022 in what he called a special military operation.
“The Ukrainian side requested direct talks between the leaders of our states. We have taken note of this request,” Medinsky added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had challenged Putin to fly to Türkiye for direct talks with him on Thursday, but Putin – who had proposed the talks in the first place but had not said who was going for Russia – sent a mid-level delegation of experienced negotiators instead.
