Russia, Ukraine Wrangle Over Delay To Planned Prisoner Swap
Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian negotiating team, said Moscow was ready to move ahead with the handover.
Russia and Ukraine wrangled over details of a large prisoner swap, with officials in Kyiv rejecting claims by a Russian negotiator that they were dragging their feet on the planned exchange.
The swap is set to be the largest to date of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now well into its fourth year, and was agreed to talks in Turkey this week.
Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian negotiating team, said Moscow was ready to move ahead with the handover, including the refrigerated bodies of thousands of Ukrainian servicemen killed in action, but had been stymied.
The Ukrainian side “unexpectedly postponed both the reception of the bodies and the prisoner exchange,” without providing an official explanation,” Medinsky said in a post on Telegram. Russia has acted “in strict compliance with the Istanbul agreements,” he added.
“We are calling on Kyiv to strictly comply with the schedule and all achieved agreements and start the swap immediately,” he said.
The Ukrainian POW coordination center, in response, said Russia had provided information for the swap that didn’t match the agreed-upon approach, slowing down the process.
Ukraine said submitted its personnel list according to clearly-defined criteria, including badly injured and severely ill service members as well as younger soldiers. “Unfortunately, instead of constructive dialogue, we again face manipulation and attempts to use the sensitive humanitarian theme to reach information targets.”
The center called on Russia to return to “constructive work” to get the process going again in the coming days.
Russia continues its terror against civilians. Hundreds of drones and missiles rained down on Ukraine overnight.
Kharkiv had a particularly terrible night. 53 drones, four guided aerial bombs, and one missile. At least three people were killed, with 21 injured.
Russian forces overnight launched their latest major missile and drone strike against Ukraine. The Kharkiv region in the northeast incurred its largest barrage of the war to date, leaving at least three people dead and dozens injured. Russia is believed to be retaliating after a surprise Ukrainian drone attack against its fighter jets a week ago.
The Russian defense ministry said the overnight attack was against defense industry facilities, including drone assembly workshops and ammunition depots. Images on social media showed high-rise apartment buildings badly damaged or ablaze in Kharkiv.
Although the latest exchange of hostilities has threatened to undermine the POW exchange plan, Moscow and Kyiv each swapped 1,000 prisoners over three days in late May at a time of several deadly Russian airstrikes across Ukraine.
Two recent rounds of talks haven’t made any progress toward negotiating an end to the war, with Russia setting out maximalist demands and US President Donald Trump stepping back from calls for an immediate ceasefire.
After a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, Trump suggested that he might let Ukraine and Russia “fight for a little while” before brokering a peace deal.
