UPDATE - Russia, Ukraine conduct another war prisoner swap under Istanbul deal

UPDATES WITH STATEMENT BY UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT, CHANGES IN HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE

By Alperen Aktas and Elena Teslova

ISTANBUL / MOSCOW (AA) - Russia and Ukraine have carried out another exchange of prisoners of war, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Friday, as part of agreements reached during talks in Istanbul on June 2.

The ministry confirmed that both sides exchanged groups of servicemen equal in number, though it did not disclose the number of individuals involved in the swap.

According to the statement, the repatriated Russian soldiers are currently in Belarus, where they are receiving medical care and psychological support.

All returnees will later be transferred to medical facilities in Russia for continued treatment and rehabilitation, the ministry said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also confirmed the exchange, saying many of the freed troops had spent over two years in Russian captivity.

“Most of the warriors returning today from Russian captivity had been held for over two years. And now, at last, they are home,” he said in a post on X.

Zelenskyy said the soldiers included defenders from Mariupol, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Kharkiv, and Chernihiv, representing Ukraine’s armed forces, National Guard, and Border Guard Service.

During the June 2 talks, both sides agreed to several humanitarian measures, including the exchange of prisoners. The first round of Istanbul talks, the first direct negotiations between the warring sides in three years, was held in May.