(Updated: )
Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Russia and Ukraine have reached an agreement in Istanbul for the exchange of prisoners of war (POWs) on a 1,000-for-1,000 basis, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who was leading Ukraine's delegation, told reporters after the talks on May 16.
"We know the date, but we're not going to say it yet," he said.
Soon after, Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation, confirmed the agreed exchange in comments to Russian state media.
"Work on lists of people to be exchanged will start today," Ukraine's Deputy Defense Intelligence Chief Vadym Skybytskyi later told reporters.
Prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine occur regularly in a rare case of contact and cooperation between the two warring sides. The latest exchange took place on May 6, when Ukraine secured the return of 205 soldiers in a one-for-one prisoner exchange.
Ukraine floated the idea of an all-for-all prisoner exchange back in 2024, but Moscow has not agreed to the proposal. Kyiv does not reveal the exact figures on how many Ukrainian POWs are held in Russia.
After Moscow proposed to hold peace talks in Turkey this week, President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed and invited Putin for a face-to-face meeting. The Russian leader declined to attend and appointed his aide, Medinsky, to lead the talks.
The Russian delegation included deputy ministers and lower-level aides and excluded top officials like Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Zelensky commented that Moscow has dispatched a "sham delegation," while Western officials presented the move as an indication that Putin is not serious about peace efforts.
Though Zelensky has since then left for Albania, a Ukrainian delegation, including Presidential Office head Andriy Yermak, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, and Umerov, has arrived in Istanbul to meet the Russian delegates.
The Ukrainian delegation also held meetings with U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier in the day.
Kyiv and its allies have urged Moscow to adopt an unconditional ceasefire starting May 12 as the first step toward peace talks — a proposal Russia has ignored.
While Ukrainian officials said they hope to discuss a possible truce in Istanbul, Russia presented the meeting as the continuation of the 2022 talks and stressed the need to address what it sees as the "root causes" of the war.
U.S. President Donald Trump initially voiced optimism about the meeting's prospects and suggested he might attend on May 16 if progress is made. He later downplayed the expectations, saying that progress is unlikely before he meets Putin.
Kateryna Denisova
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