Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov is holding talks with Putin's aide Volodymyr Medinsky about another exchange, and warned that Russia is preparing provocations.
Points of attention
- Ukrainian President Zelenskyy alerts about Russia's preparations for provocations amid negotiations for the exchange of prisoners of war.
- Complex lists and tactics by Russia pose challenges to the effectiveness of the prisoner exchange process.
- The Ukrainian government is determined to implement previous agreements on prisoner exchanges despite potential Russian interference.
Zelenskyy warned of further Russian provocations amid prisoner exchange
The head of state announced this during a conversation with journalists.
Exchanges. Umerov and Medinsky are conducting complex negotiations regarding the lists. It is clear to us from the data of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine what the Russians want to do. They want to fill the lists of Ukrainians only from their side, despite our request. And we know that they want to bring some prisoners to Belarus, force them to record video appeals to their parents, as if the Ukrainian authorities are not taking them: take us, here we are in Belarus, take us. Such Russian provocations are being prepared.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
President of Ukraine
He called it an attempt to put pressure on Ukraine.
But we are doing everything we can to ensure that all previous agreements on exchanges are implemented, and we were talking about different stages of exchanges. We are working to bring all our people home.
As a reminder, the first round of negotiations took place in Istanbul on May 16. The Ukrainian side was headed by then Defense Minister and now Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov, and the Russian side was headed by Putin's aide Volodymyr Medinsky. As a result of the negotiations, an agreement was reached, in particular, on the exchange of prisoners in the "1000 for 1000" format.
On June 2, the second round of negotiations between the delegations of Ukraine and the Russian Federation took place in Istanbul, during which an agreement was reached on the exchange of prisoners of war of two categories — wounded and seriously wounded, as well as young soldiers under the age of 25 — in an “all for all” format. In addition, the issue of exchanging the bodies of deceased soldiers was agreed upon.
