Russia accused Saturday l’Ukraine to have “reported” the exchange of prisoners And thousands of soldiers killed who should have been held this weekend, an agreement reached after the second session of Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul in Türkiye.
According to Russian chief negotiator Vladimir Medinski, “the Ukrainian party unexpectedly postponed the reception of the bodies and the exchange of prisoners of war on an indefinite date”.
For his part, kyiv firmly rejected these accusations. “The declarations made today by the Russian party correspond neither to reality nor to previous agreements,” said on Telegram the coordination headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war, accusing Russia of “unfair games” and “manipulations”.
This exchange was the only concrete result of the Russian-Ukrainian direct talks when Moscow and kyiv had agreed on Monday to release all seriously injured or sick prisoners, as well as those under the age of 25.
A first fruitful exchange in May
The Russian chief negotiator Vladimir Medinski called on Telegram Ukraine to “recover the bodies of 6000 soldiers” Ukrainians, assuring that “1212 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers are already at the place of exchange” on the Russian-Ukrainian border. “For an unknown reason, the (Ukrainian) team of negotiators has not even arrived at the place of exchange”, according to him.
“In addition, the first list of 640 prisoners of war, injured categories, seriously ill and young, was provided to Ukraine in order to start the exchange,” he continued. Ukraine has not yet responded to these accusations.
The two belligerents already had exchanged some 1000 people From each camp, soldiers and civilians, after the first cycle of direct negotiations in Istanbul, in May. The two countries are far from a ceasefire or a lasting conflict settlement.
