Alright, so like one day, Russia and Ukraine decided to free around 800 prisoners of war. Pretty big deal, right? This exchange of prisoners took place at the Ukraine-Belarus border, where both countries released a total of 780 war detainees. Among these released prisoners, there were 270 military personnel and 120 non-military civilians.
The whole prisoner swap thing was agreed upon after direct talks between the two countries in Istanbul. This was actually the first direct talk between the two nations since March 2022 – crazy, right? The agreement includes plans for a total of 1,000 prisoner exchanges, so there might be more swaps happening in the coming days. Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, even made a statement saying they are bringing their people back home, verifying every single name and detail.
According to Russia’s Defense Ministry, even those Russian citizens who were detained by the Ukrainian military in the Kursk region were part of this exchange. They were brought to Belarus for medical examination. On another note, former US President Donald Trump praised the prisoner exchange on his ‘Truth Social’ platform, calling it the start of something big.
As the preparations for the second round of talks between Russia and Ukraine are underway, Russia has stated that they will hand over a ‘memorandum’ to Ukraine during those talks. Trump claimed that after a two-hour phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the two countries will ‘immediately’ engage in talks for a ceasefire. However, Zelensky dismissed this claim, stating that “Putin is actually trying to buy time.”
So yeah, the second round of talks is on the horizon. Let’s see where this prisoner exchange saga takes us next. Not really sure why this matters, but hey, it’s interesting to follow, right?