Ukraine will repatriate 500 more prisoners of war on June 7 and 8 as part of the next round of prisoner exchange with Russia, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy revealed on Wednesday.
“The Russian side has passed on information that this weekend – on Saturday and Sunday -they will be able to transfer 500 people, 500 of our military personnel. We will be ready to exchange the relevant numbers of POWs,” Zelenskiy said.
Zelenskiy said there is delay in Russia’s handing over the list of exchanged POWs.
The exchange of prisoners of war is in line with the agreement reached during the June 2 meeting between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul. The sides exchanged 1,000 prisoners of war on each side following the meeting.
Moscow and Kyiv also agreed to return the bodies of 6,000 fallen soldiers each, according to Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov speaking at a press conference in Istanbul after the talks.
Vladimir Medinsky, who leads the Istanbul talks with Kyiv said the exchange will likely follow a 1,200-for-1,200 format.
