Russia and Ukraine agree to swap prisoners, but peace conference in Istanbul stalls | Child Rights News

Russia and Ukraine agreed that new prisoners exchanges and thousands of wars had died during their in-person meetings in Istanbul, but there was little progress in ending the war.

The delegation met on Monday at the Ottoman Silagang Palace in Turkey. Officials confirmed that both sides will exchange the bodies of 6,000 soldiers killed in the battle with prisoners of war.

Negotiators on both sides confirmed that a contract has been reached to replace all seriously injured soldiers under the age of 25 with all captured fighters.

“We agreed to trade inmates who were seriously injured, seriously injured, seriously injured. The second category is young soldiers between the ages of 18 and 25.

Vladimir Medinsky, the leading Russian negotiator, said the swaps would include “at least 1,000” on each side.

Speaking from Lithuania’s Vilnius, Ukrainian Bishop Voldimi Zelenki, said the two parties had “exchanged documents through the Turkish side” and Kiev was preparing to release the next group of prisoners.

The Istanbul Conference marks the second direct dialogue within a month, but expectations were low. The May 16 consultations produced another major prisoner swap, but failed to reach a ceasefire.

“The prisoner exchange appears to be a diplomatic channel that actually works between Russia and Ukraine,” said Dmitry Medvedenko, correspondent of Al Jazeera, reported from Istanbul.

“We have actually been in prison interactions throughout this war, but not the number that is happening as a result of these Istanbul talks,” Medvedenko added.

Zelenskyy’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak said he handed over the list of children he accused of accusing Kyiv of accusing Russia of accusing him of accusing him of acquiring him to return.

When it comes to the truce, Russia and Ukraine remain sharply divided.

“The Russians continued to reject the motion for an unconditional ceasefire,” Ukrainian vice minister Sergie Kishlitzia told reporters after the talks.

Russia said it provided a limited suspension to the fight.

“We proposed a specific ceasefire for two or three days in certain areas on the frontline,” Medinsky said, adding that it is necessary to gather dead soldier bodies from the battlefield.

At the negotiation table, Russia presented a memorandum of understanding set forth the Kremlin’s terms to end hostilities, the Ukrainian delegation said.

Umerov told reporters that Kyiv officials would need a week to review the documents and determine a response. Ukraine proposed further consultations on the dates from June 20 to June 30, he said.

After the talks, Russian state presses Tass and Ria Novosti published texts on the Russian memorandum. This was suggested as a condition for a ceasefire in which Ukraine retracted its forces from the four Ukrainian regions annexed by Russia in September 2022, but was not entirely captured.

As another way to reach an armistice, the memorandum will halt Ukraine’s mobilization efforts and push Ukraine to freeze conditions previously proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The document also suggests that Ukraine will ban the military presence of third countries on the soil as a condition to halt its relocation of troops and stop hostilities.

Russian documents also suggest that Ukraine end martial law and hold elections. The two countries can then see that Ukraine declared neutral status, abandoning bids to join NATO, setting limits on the size of its military, and acknowledging Russia as the official language of its country on its equivalent to Ukrainians.

Ukraine and the West have previously rejected all requests from Moscow.

I hope that the ceasefire will remain elusive

Turkish President Recept Tayyip Erdogan called the talks “magnificent.”

“My biggest wish is to gather and even add Putin and Zelenky Putin and Zelenky in Istanbul or Ankara. [United States President Donald] Along with Trump,” he said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who chaired the talks, said the world was looking closely. He acknowledged that the two discussed the conditions for the ceasefire, but no specific results were announced.

Oleksiy Goncharenko, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, told Al Jazeera he was not very optimistic about the talks in Istanbul.

“Russia clearly shows that it does not want to end the war as Ukraine proposed a 30-day ceasefire in March. The proposals for America and Europe were the same, but only one country [Russia] I refused,” Gonchalenko said.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has stepped up its military efforts far beyond the frontline, claiming responsibility for the drone attack on Sunday, destroying or destroying more than 40 Russian troops. The operation targets airspaces in three remote regions, the Arctic, Siberia and the Far East, thousands of kilometers from Ukraine.

“This amazing operation will diminish in history,” Zelensky said, calling the raid a turning point in the Ukrainian struggle.

Ukrainian officials said the attacks crippled almost a third of Russia’s strategic bomber fleet. Vasyl Maliuk, head of security services in Ukraine, said the mission took more than a year.

Zelensky said the retreat of Russian troops would put pressure on him to return to the negotiation table to Moscow.

“Russia must feel the cost of invasion, which is what pushes it towards diplomacy,” he traveled to Lithuania to meet leaders of NATO’s eastern side and Scandinavian countries.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian air force reported that Russia fired 472 drones on Sunday. This is the highest number since the start of a full-scale invasion in 2022, aiming to emit Ukraine’s air defenses. Most of these drones said they targeted civilian areas.

On Monday, Russian forces attacked the Herson area in southern Ukraine, killing three people and injuring 19 people, including two children. Separately, five people have been killed and nine have been injured in an attack near Zaporia Island in the neighbouring Zaporia region.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said its forces intercepted 162 Ukrainian drones overnight in eight regions and Crimea, but Ukraine fired 52 of the 80 drones launched by Russia.

Zelenskyy warned that if Istanbul fails to bring about results, more sanctions against Russia would be needed. “If there is no breakthrough, new strong sanctions must continue urgently,” he said.