Russian President Putin stated on the 27th that after the implementation of the agreements previously reached with Ukraine in Istanbul, Turkey, the two sides will hold a third round of negotiations, and Russia is ready for it.
At a press conference held after attending the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council meeting in Minsk, Belarus, he pointed out that the heads of the Russian and Ukrainian negotiating teams are maintaining close contact and are communicating with each other. The next round of talks will focus on discussing a draft memorandum regarding solutions to the conflict between the two countries.
Putin said that the Russia-Ukraine prisoner exchange is of great significance and has created conditions for both sides to have substantive discussions on the essence of the issue.
He stated that Russia has handed over 6,000 bodies of soldiers to Ukraine and is prepared to transfer another 3,000 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers.
This month, on the 2nd, delegations from Russia and Ukraine held a second round of direct talks in Istanbul, where both parties agreed to exchange all seriously wounded and seriously ill prisoners of war under the principle of "all for all," and to conduct a large-scale exchange of prisoners of war under the age of 25 and the bodies of fallen soldiers. According to the prisoner exchange agreement reached during this round of negotiations, Russia and Ukraine agreed to exchange at least 1,000 prisoners of war each, and the Russian side would hand over 6,000 bodies of Ukrainian military personnel to the Ukrainian side.