Ukraine and Russia have reached a significant prisoner exchange agreement during renewed peace talks in Istanbul, but failed to agree on an immediate ceasefire, highlighting the persistent divide between the two nations despite limited diplomatic progress.
At Monday’s negotiations—the second round of direct talks between both countries—Ukraine confirmed that Russia rejected its proposal for an unconditional ceasefire. Instead, Moscow offered a brief, partial truce of two to three days in certain areas along the frontline to allow recovery of fallen soldiers.
While the talks, prompted in part by U.S. President Donald Trump’s push for dialogue, have yet to yield a broader settlement, both parties agreed to swap all seriously wounded prisoners of war and all captured soldiers aged 18 to 25.
“We agreed to exchange all-for-all seriously wounded and seriously sick prisoners of war. The second category is young soldiers who are from 18 to 25 years old — all-for-all,” Ukraine’s Defence Minister and lead negotiator Rustem Umerov said in Istanbul.
Russia’s chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, confirmed the deal, noting that “at least 1,000” prisoners would be exchanged on each side, exceeding the numbers from the previous round of talks.
Despite this breakthrough, Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya lamented Russia’s refusal to endorse a full ceasefire. Medinsky responded that Russia had offered a localized temporary truce to recover battlefield casualties.
In a further humanitarian gesture, both countries agreed to exchange the remains of 6,000 fallen soldiers. Russia pledged to return the bodies unilaterally, even if Ukraine had no corpses to send in return.
As the discussions concluded, President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated that any peace must not validate President Vladimir Putin’s aggression. “The key to lasting peace is clear, the aggressor must not receive any reward for war,” Zelensky said at a NATO press conference in Vilnius.
Both parties exchanged documents outlining their positions on a full peace and ceasefire arrangement. Kyiv has said it will review Russia’s proposals and suggested a follow-up meeting by the end of June, potentially paving the way for a Putin-Zelensky summit.
The Istanbul talks were hosted at the Ciragan Palace, where Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan acknowledged the global significance of the negotiations. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan later proposed a trilateral meeting involving Zelensky, Putin, and Trump.
Russia’s sweeping demands—such as barring Ukraine from NATO membership, limiting its military, and surrendering still-held territories—were once again rebuffed by Kyiv and its Western allies, who view the war as an imperialist land grab.
Tens of thousands have died, millions have fled, and vast regions of Ukraine remain devastated since the 2022 invasion began, marking Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II.
Ukrainians on the ground, like 53-year-old Volodymyr from the besieged town of Dobropillya, expressed despair. “We have no home, nothing. We were almost killed by drones,” he said.
Amidst stalled diplomacy, Ukraine claimed a daring drone strike on Sunday that damaged around 40 Russian strategic bombers valued at $7 billion in a special operation inside Russian territory—underscoring Kyiv’s ongoing military resistance even as talks continue.
What you should know
Despite agreeing on a landmark prisoner exchange, Russia and Ukraine remain sharply divided on a ceasefire.
With battlefield operations intensifying and no immediate end in sight, humanitarian gestures like POW swaps remain the few points of convergence between the two nations.
