UKRAINE - JULY 23, 2025: (RESTRICTION: USERS MUST CREDIT “UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT” HANDOUT, MUST NOT OBSCURE LOGO —EDITORIAL USE ONLY) A group of Ukrainian servicemen were returned from Russia under the terms of a Ukrainian-Russian agreement reached on June 2, 2025, in Istanbul, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday.

On his official X account, Zelenskyy noted that the ninth stage of the prisoner exchange had taken place, with seriously ill and severely wounded defenders returning home. He said that across all stages of the Istanbul agreements, over 1,000 Ukrainians have been repatriated, bringing joy to thousands of families. Zelenskyy expressed gratitude to all who contributed to the effort.

On the same day, Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed that a group of Russian servicemen was returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv government under the same agreement. In exchange, a group of prisoners of war from the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) was also repatriated.

Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday concluded their third round of Istanbul peace talks in less than an hour, an Anadolu correspondent reported.

The meeting between delegations followed contacts between their heads, starting around 8.37 p.m. local time (1737GMT) and ending around 9.16 (1816GMT).

Following the meeting, Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation, said Russia suggested forming three online working groups, each of them addressing different subject areas – political, humanitarian, and military.

He also said the sides agreed to swap 1,200 troops being held prisoner, and Moscow proposed exchanging not only military personnel but also civilians – some 30 people that Ukraine captured in Russia's Kursk region last year.

Medinsky also said Russia so far has returned around 7,000 bodies of fallen Ukrainian soldiers and offered to transfer 3,000 more, and receive any number of its own deceased soldiers from Ukraine.

Moscow also advocated declaring 24- to 48-hour ceasefires to evacuate wounded soldiers and reclaim the bodies of dead soldiers, he added.