
Ukraine and Russia exchange wounded, ill prisoners of war
KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine and Russia carried out another exchange of seriously ill and wounded soldiers on Thursday, according to officials from both nations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed the exchange in a message on Telegram, noting that all the returned Ukrainian troops require medical care. He did not provide specific figures.
Earlier this month, during negotiations in Istanbul, Kyiv and Moscow reached an agreement on a major exchange involving prisoners of war and the remains of thousands of fallen soldiers.
Since then, Russia and Ukraine have conducted multiple prisoner swaps, primarily involving soldiers under the age of 25 as well as those who are severely injured or ill. These efforts are raising hopes for some of the largest exchanges yet in the conflict that began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Russia’s defense ministry stated that a group of its soldiers had been repatriated from Ukraine, entering Belarus as outlined in the June 2 agreements.
“They are receiving the necessary medical and psychological support,” the ministry announced on Telegram.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Ukraine reported the recovery of the remains of 1,212 of its fallen soldiers. According to Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky, Ukraine also handed over the bodies of 27 Russian troops.
(Reporting by Olena Harmash, Aleksandar Vasovic, and Alexander Marrow; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Andrew Heavens)