Russia and Ukraine have completed the first stage of the prisoner exchange taken place as part of the agreements reached in Istanbul last month.
Under the agreement, Ukrainian soldiers under the age of 25 have been returned from Russian captivity. Among them are infantrymen, sailors, paratroopers, National Guard members, border guards, and territorial defense fighters. Neither the Russian Ministry of Defense nor the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense have provided the exact number of exchanged soldiers from both sides.
Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets stated that the returned Ukrainian prisoners of war are mostly born in 2000. Most of them were captured by Russian forces in 2022 when Kremlin started full-fledged invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense stated that, in accordance with the Istanbul agreements, three groups of prisoners will be exchanged: severely wounded, soldiers with serious illnesses, young servicemen under the age of 25.
It was stated that the prisoners would be exchanged according to the "all for all" formula. At the same time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that there would definitely be an exchange of "1000 for 1000," and possibly another one in the format of "200 for 200." The figure of 1,200 people was also mentioned by the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, during May negotiations in Istanbul.
