Ukraine is intensifying efforts to restart prisoner-exchange negotiations with Russia, aiming to secure the release of approximately 1,200 Ukrainian captives, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed on Sunday.
Speaking in a video posted on Telegram, Zelenskiy said that a significant portion of current diplomatic activity is focused on reviving the stalled exchange process. “We are counting on the resumption of exchanges,” he stated. “Many meetings, negotiations, and calls are now devoted to this.”
Rustem Umerov, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, echoed the president’s remarks a day earlier. Umerov revealed that he recently held key consultations in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, supported by Ukraine’s international partners, to accelerate the resumption of prisoner swaps.
According to Umerov, all sides agreed to return to the framework of the Istanbul agreements—arrangements brokered by Turkey in 2022 that laid out procedures for large-scale, coordinated exchanges between Ukraine and Russia. “This concerns the release of 1,200 Ukrainians,” he said in a Telegram statement.
He added that additional meetings would take place soon to finalise logistical and procedural details. “We are working without pause so that Ukrainians who are to return from captivity can celebrate New Year and Christmas at home—at the family table and with their loved ones,” Umerov said.
The Istanbul agreements once facilitated the exchange of thousands of prisoners, but the process has become inconsistent as frontline tensions rise amid Russia’s ongoing invasion, which began in February 2022. Ukraine’s renewed diplomatic push signals its determination to bring its citizens home despite the challenges of a prolonged and volatile conflict.
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