Russia and Ukraine agree new prisoner swaps

Russia and Ukraine agreed a prisoner swap during their third set of direct talks in Istanbul on Wednesday

The two sides did appear to find some common ground on prisoner exchanges, with Medinsky telling a press conference after the meeting that an exchange of around 250 Russian and 250 Ukrainian prisoners of war was being completed along the Ukrainian-Belarusian border.

Medinsky said the two sides had also agreed “that in the near future an exchange of at least 1,200 more prisoners of war from each side will be carried out.”

The two previous rounds of talks in Istanbul, in May and June, helped facilitate the exchange of thousands of prisoners of war and the remains of dead soldiers, but also made little progress toward peace.