Russia and Ukraine reach deal on new POW swap and handover of bodies
Item
1 of 8 Russian delegation head and presidential adviser, Vladimir
Medinsky speaks to the press, after a meeting at Ciragan Palace on the
day of the second round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, in
Istanbul, Turkey, June 2, 2025. REUTERS/Murad Sezer
[1/8]Russian
delegation head and presidential adviser, Vladimir Medinsky speaks to
the press, after a meeting at Ciragan Palace on the day of the second
round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, in Istanbul, Turkey,
June 2, 2025. REUTERS/Murad Sezer Purchase Licensing Rights - Two sides talk for barely an hour in Istanbul
- Second round of direct negotiations since 2022
- Warring sides agree humanitarian steps
- Russia says it proposed short ceasefires in some areas
- Erdogan wants Putin, Zelenskiy, Trump to meet in Turkey
ISTANBUL,
June 2 (Reuters) - Russia and Ukraine said they had agreed at peace
talks on Monday to exchange more prisoners of war and return the bodies
of 12,000 dead soldiers.
The
warring sides met for barely an hour in the Turkish city of Istanbul,
for only the second such round of negotiations since March 2022.
Turkish
President Tayyip Erdogan described it as a great meeting and said he
hoped to bring together Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr
Zelenskiy for a meeting in Turkey with U.S. President Donald Trump.
But
there was no breakthrough on a proposed ceasefire that Ukraine, its
European allies and Washington have all urged Russia to accept.
Moscow says it seeks a long-term settlement, not a pause in the war; Kyiv says Putin is not interested in peace.
Kremlin
aide Vladimir Medinsky said Russian negotiators had handed their
Ukrainian counterparts a detailed memorandum outlining Moscow's terms
for a full ceasefire.
Medinsky,
who heads the Russian team, said Moscow had also suggested a "specific
ceasefire of two to three days in certain sections of the front" so that
the bodies of dead soldiers could be collected.
Each side said it would hand over the bodies of 6,000 dead soldiers to the other.
In
addition, they said they would conduct a further big swap of prisoners
of war, after 1,000 captives on each side were traded following a first
round of talks in Istanbul on May 15.
Ukrainian
Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, who headed Kyiv's delegation, said the
new exchange would focus on those severely injured in the war and on
young people.
Umerov
also said that Moscow had handed a draft peace accord to Ukraine and
that Kyiv - which has drawn up its own version - would review the
Russian document.
Ukraine
has proposed holding more talks before the end of June, but believes
that only a meeting between Zelenskiy and Putin can resolve the many
issues of contention, Umerov said.
Zelenskiy's
chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said Kyiv's delegation had requested the
return of a list of children who it said had been deported to Russia.
Moscow
says such children were moved in order to protect them from fighting.
Medinsky said there were 339 names on Ukraine's list but that the
children had been "saved", not stolen.
LOW EXPECTATIONS FOR ISTANBUL BREAKTHROUGH
Ukraine had a day earlier
launched
one of its most ambitious attacks of the war, using drones to target
Russian nuclear-capable long-range bomber planes in Siberia and
elsewhere.
Angry war bloggers urged Moscow to retaliate strongly.
While
both countries, for different reasons, are keen to keep Trump engaged
in the peace process, expectations of a breakthrough on Monday had been
low.
Ukraine
regards Russia's approach to date as an attempt to force it to
capitulate - something Kyiv says it will never do - while Moscow, which
advanced on the battlefield in May at its fastest rate in six months,
says Kyiv should submit to peace on Russian terms or face losing more
territory.
Putin
set out his opening terms for an immediate end to the war last June:
Ukraine must drop its ambitions to join the Western NATO alliance and
withdraw its troops from the entirety of the four Ukrainian regions
claimed and largely controlled by Russia.
According
to a proposed roadmap drawn up by Ukraine, a copy of which was seen by
Reuters, Kyiv wants no restrictions on its military strength after any
peace deal, no international recognition of Russian sovereignty over
parts of Ukraine taken by Moscow's forces, and reparations.
Russia currently controls just under one fifth of Ukraine, or about 113,100 sq km, about the area of the U.S. state of Ohio.
Putin
sent his army into Ukraine on February 24, 2022, after eight years of
fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and
Ukrainian forces.
The
United States, which under Trump's predecessor Joe Biden was Ukraine's
main source of advanced weaponry in the war, says over 1.2 million
people have been killed and injured in the conflict since 2022.
Trump
has called Putin "crazy" and berated Zelenskiy in public in the Oval
Office, but the U.S. president has also said he thinks peace is
achievable and that if Putin delays, the U.S. could impose tough
sanctions on Russia.
Writing
by Mark Trevelyan and Andrew Osborn; Additional reporting by Lidia
Kelly, Olena Harmash in Kyiv, Ezgi Erkoyun in Istanbul, Tuvan Gumrukcu
in Ankara, Darya Korsunskaya in London and Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow;
Editing by Kevin Liffey