Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday that it had carried out another prisoner exchange with Ukraine under agreements reached during direct peace talks in Istanbul last month.
“On July 4, in accordance with the Russian-Ukrainian agreements in Istanbul on June 2, another group of Russian military personnel was repatriated from territory under the control of the Kyiv regime,” the ministry said in a statement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later confirmed the exchange, saying “most” of the returned Ukrainian service members had been in Russian captivity since 2022.
“Exchanges should continue, and I thank everyone who makes this possible. Ukraine’s goal is to bring all our people home,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
Neither side disclosed the number of prisoners exchanged.
Russia’s state-run TASS news agency, citing an anonymous source, reported it was an “equal exchange” and included two civilians from the Kursk region. Zelensky confirmed that civilians were among the Ukrainians returned, along with soldiers, National Guard members and border guards.
During the June 2 talks in Istanbul, Russia and Ukraine agreed to exchange more than 1,000 wounded or ill service members, as well as those under the age of 25. Before Friday, both countries had carried out at least seven exchanges, with the previous one taking place on June 26.
Russia said Friday that its troops were transferred to Belarus, where they are receiving psychological and medical assistance.
The exchange was announced just hours after Ukraine accused Russia of launching its largest air attack of the war, while Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian territory killed one elderly woman and left tens of thousands without power.
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