Ukraine's Defense Minister Umerov reveals details of new POW exchange with Russia
Photo: Ukraine’s Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov (Getty Images)
Ukraine insists on the release of all prisoners by Russia and the return of abducted children. New agreements with Russia have been reached, states Ukraine’s Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov, after the negotiations in Istanbul concluded.
"We're insisting on the release of all prisoners and the return of abducted children. In the release of prisoners of war, we agreed to focus on categories rather than numbers," Umerov said.
According to him, Ukraine and Russia have currently agreed on an all-for-all exchange of seriously wounded and seriously ill prisoners of war.
"The second category is young soldiers who are from 18 to 25 years old. All for all. Also, we agreed to return 6,000 to 6,000 bodies of fallen soldiers," the minister stated.
At the same time, Deputy Chief of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU), Major General Vadym Skibitskyi, stated that Ukraine and Russia had made new progress.
He explained that this involved the so-called all-for-all formula. According to him, the two sides had agreed on two categories of individuals who would be returned to their home countries. Mechanisms for the exchange had been coordinated, and preliminary timelines had been determined. Skibitskyi noted that a great deal of work still lay ahead, including extensive verification processes and identifying all categories to ensure no one would be missed or forgotten. He added that the work would continue and expressed confidence in its eventual success.
Shortly before this, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that during the meeting in Istanbul on June 2, the delegations of Ukraine and the Russian Federation agreed on a new exchange of prisoners of war.
And the Head of the President’s Office, Andriy Yermak, said that Ukraine handed over to the Russian representatives a list of Ukrainian children who need to be returned.
Prisoner exchange in the 1,000-for-1,000 format
During the first round of negotiations in Türkiye on May 16, the Ukrainian and Russian delegations reached an agreement on a large-scale prisoner exchange in the 1000 for 1000 format. At that time, the exchange process took place gradually over several days.
It began on Friday, May 23, when 390 Ukrainians were released from Russian captivity: 270 servicemen and 120 civilians. Among those freed were representatives of the Navy, Air Assault Forces, National Guard, Territorial Defense Forces, and Border Service.
On May 24, Ukraine returned 307 military personnel. Among them were 27 defenders of Mariupol, and for the first time, soldiers from certain military units were released from captivity.
On May 25, another 303 Ukrainians returned from Russian captivity. In particular, 70 soldiers who defended Mariupol were freed.
RBC-Ukraine showed exclusive footage of the large-scale prisoner exchange published by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
