Ukraine-Russia agree to new prisoner swap but talks fail to yield ceasefire

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking at the NATO summit in Vilnius on Monday, said Russia and Kyiv have agreed to free more prisoners of war.

The agreement emerged at the second round of direct peace talks which took place in the Turkish city of Istanbul, where the two sides met for just over an hour.

They agreed to swap 6,000 bodies of soldiers killed in action and an “all for all’ exchange of seriously wounded and sick soldiers, and young soldiers under the age of 25.

But the talks delivered no major breakthrough in peace efforts.

In a meeting that latest just over an hour, Russia again rejected a key Ukrainian demand for an unconditional ceasefire.

Speaking ahead of the talks, Zelenskyy said Kyiv’s delegation was ready to take the necessary steps for peace.

“Naturally the starting point should be a ceasefire and humanitarian actions, the release of prisoners and the return of abducted children,” he said.

He added that all key issues could “be resolved at the level of leaders”.

Zelensky reiterated the need for a new set of sanctions to pressure President Vladimir Putin into agreeing to a ceasefire.

The Ukrainian delegation was led by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, while Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Putin, headed the Kremlin team.

“Our proposal is an unconditional ceasefire in the air, sea, and land, at least for 30 days. This position has remained unchanged for three months,” Umerov said after the talks.

He said that Russia handed over a memorandum to Ukraine during the meeting and that it would take one week for Kyiv to review it and decide on further steps.

There was also no sign of progress on Kyiv’s demand for a meeting between presidents Zelensky and Putin.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country would try to facilitate a meeting between the two leaders.

Monday’s peace talks came after the two countries traded overnight attacks. Kyiv officials said a surprise drone attack on Sunday damaged or destroyed more than 40 warplanes at air bases deep inside Russia.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Sunday that “Russia is attempting to delay negotiations and prolong the war in order to make additional battlefield gains.”