Khbarani - Both Russia and Ukraine announced a major prisoner exchange agreed upon during their first direct talks in more than 3 years, which took place in Istanbul last week.
The Russian Defense Ministry stated via Telegram "270 Russian military and 120 civilians, including civilians from the Kursk region held by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, have returned from territories controlled by the Kiev regime. In return, 270 Ukrainian prisoners of war and 120 civilians were delivered."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that the prisoner exchange with Russia involved 390 people as part of the first installment of the 1000-for-1000 exchange agreement, and he expected "the continuation of the prisoner exchanges on Saturday and Sunday and the full completion of the agreement."
During talks that lasted two hours in Istanbul last week, Russia and Ukraine agreed to exchange a thousand prisoners, but they did not agree on the ceasefire proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
In a post on the "Truth Social" platform, Trump commented on the exchange process "Could this be the beginning of something greater?", referring to the possibility of the two parties reaching a ceasefire which Trump has promised since the start of his campaign.
"All options are being considered"
Ukraine says it is immediately ready for a 30-day ceasefire, but Russia - which began the war in 2022 and now occupies about a fifth of Ukraine – says it will not cease the war until its conditions are met first. One of the members of the Ukrainian delegation described these conditions as "unenforceable."
Zelensky confirmed that Kiev "is considering all options" regarding the location of a new bilateral meeting with the Russians, especially "Turkey, the Vatican, and Switzerland". Pope Leo XIV, the United States, and Italy raised the possibility of holding the next negotiations in the Vatican.
In contrast, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed doubts that the Vatican would be a likely venue to host peace talks with Ukraine.
Lavrov said "It would be quite inappropriate for Orthodox countries to discuss on Catholic land issues related to addressing the root causes" of the conflict in Ukraine.
