Russia and Ukraine to swap 12,000 dead soldiers; agree partial ceasefire

These are some of the happenings at the peace negotiations between the two sides held in Istanbul on Monday, a Kyiv negotiator, Sergiy Kyslytsya, said.

The Russian side continued to reject the motion of an unconditional ceasefire,” Kyslytsya told reporters in a press conference after the talks.

Ukraine, on Monday, had proposed to hold a next round of talks with Russia before the end of June, after the two sides met for negotiations in Istanbul where they swapped documents outlining their peace roadmaps.

“We propose to the Russian side to hold a meeting by the end of this month, from 20th to 30th of June,” Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said after talks.

He added that the delegations should try to agree a meeting between presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin.

Meanwhile, both sides have agreed to exchange 6,000 bodies of killed soldiers each.

Ukraine and Russia agreed to exchange prisoners of war who are severely wounded, as well as those under the age of 25. Also, the remains of 6,000 killed soldiers will also be exchanged.

“We agreed to exchange all-for-all seriously wounded and seriously sick prisoners of war. The second category is young soldiers, who are from 18 to 25 years old – all-for-all.

“Also we agreed to return 6,000 to 6,000 bodies of fallen soldiers,” Ukraine’s lead negotiator and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov told reporters in Istanbul.