
Russia, Ukraine exchange prisoners
Russia announced Monday the completion of the first phase of a prisoner exchange with Ukraine, following an agreement reached during the second round of peace talks held in Istanbul last week.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, a group of Russian soldiers under the age of 25 were transferred from Ukrainian-controlled territories to Belarus. The ministry did not specify the number of returnees but stated that an equal number of Ukrainian soldiers were released in exchange.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that the exchange process is underway and will continue in stages over the coming days.
"In this first group, we are receiving wounded soldiers, including those severely injured, as well as troops under 25," Zelensky wrote in a post on social media.
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Roya News
6 hours ago
- Roya News
Russia, Ukraine exchange prisoners
Russia announced Monday the completion of the first phase of a prisoner exchange with Ukraine, following an agreement reached during the second round of peace talks held in Istanbul last week. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, a group of Russian soldiers under the age of 25 were transferred from Ukrainian-controlled territories to Belarus. The ministry did not specify the number of returnees but stated that an equal number of Ukrainian soldiers were released in exchange. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that the exchange process is underway and will continue in stages over the coming days. "In this first group, we are receiving wounded soldiers, including those severely injured, as well as troops under 25," Zelensky wrote in a post on social media.


Roya News
a day ago
- Roya News
Russia claims key Ukraine advance as peace talks stall
Russia said Sunday that it was advancing into Ukraine's eastern Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time in the three-year war, a significant territorial escalation amid stalled peace talks. Ukraine's top political and military leaders did not immediately respond to the claim of the advance, which would be a symbolic and strategic blow after months of battlefield setbacks. Moscow, which has the initiative across much of the front, has repeatedly refused calls by Ukraine, Europe and US President Donald Trump for an unconditional ceasefire even as it holds talks with Kyiv on a possible settlement to the war. Russia's defence ministry said forces from a tank unit had "reached the western border of the Donetsk People's Republic and are continuing to develop an offensive in the Dnipropetrovsk region". Although there was no response from leaders in Kyiv to the claims, Ukraine's southern army command said Russia "does not give up its intentions to enter the Dnipropetrovsk region, but our fighters are bravely and professionally holding their section of the front line". Dnipropetrovsk is not one of the five Ukrainian regions -- Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea -- that Moscow has publicly claimed as Russian territory. In a set of peace demands issued to Ukraine during negotiations in Istanbul on June 2, Moscow demanded formal recognition that these regions were part of Russia, something Kyiv has repeatedly ruled out. At a first round of talks last month, Ukraine said Russia threatened to accelerate and expand its offensive if Kyiv did not capitulate. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Russia's three-year war, with millions forced to flee their homes and cities and villages across eastern Ukraine devastated by relentless air attacks and ground combat. Strategic setback Russia's ex-president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of the national security council, said the latest advance was a warning to Kyiv. "Those who do not want to recognise the realities of the war at negotiations, will receive new realities on the ground," he said on social media. Russia's army posted photos showing troops raising the Russian flag over the village of Zorya in Ukraine's Donetsk region, close to the internal border. A Ukrainian lieutenant colonel, 60-year-old Oleksandr, said that Russians entering the region would not change the dynamics of the battle. "They are advancing slowly, very slowly, but they are advancing," he told AFP in the town of Mezhova, around a dozen kilometres from the border between the Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions. One person was killed there in an overnight bomb attack. Oleksandr said he remained defiant. "They could say all of Ukraine belongs to them. Saying it is one thing. But I don't think it will radically change the situation. Our resistance will remain unchanged." Dnipropetrovsk had an estimated population of three million before Russia launched its offensive. Around one million people lived in the regional capital, Dnipro. It is an important mining and industrial hub for Ukraine, and deeper Russian advances into the region could have a serious impact on Kyiv's struggling military and economy. Ukrainian military personnel previously told AFP that Russia could advance relatively quickly in the largely flat region, given there were fewer natural obstacles or villages that could be used as defensive positions by Kyiv's forces. The region, and in particular the city of Dnipro, has been under persistent Russian strikes since Moscow invaded in February 2022. Russia used Dnipro as a testing ground for its "experimental" Oreshnik missile in late 2024, claiming to have struck an aeronautics production facility. POW swap 'next week' Ukraine also said Sunday that a prisoner exchange – the only agreement reached at the Istanbul talks – would start "next week" after both sides accused each other of trying to thwart and delay the swap. Moscow said Ukraine was refusing to agree to take back the bodies of killed soldiers, while Kyiv said Russia had not sent the names of more than 1,000 captured soldiers to be released. Both sides had said days earlier the exchange could take place this weekend. "The Russian side, as usual, is trying to play a dirty, political, information game," Zelensky said in his evening address.


Roya News
5 days ago
- Roya News
Details of Putin, Trump call on Ukraine, Iran
US President Donald Trump said he spoke to Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin Wednesday about Ukraine and Iran, warning that the Kremlin leader had "very strongly" pledged to respond to Kyiv's stunning drone attack on Russian bombers. Trump said that there was no "immediate peace" on the horizon in Ukraine, following what he described as a one hour and 15 minute call with the Russian president. On Iran, Trump said that Putin had offered to "participate" in talks on Tehran's nuclear program, as Trump accused the Islamic republic of "slowwalking" its response to Washington's offer of a deal. The call came three days after Ukraine conducted a massive, daring drone attack against Russian military airbases, saying it had destroyed several Russian nuclear-capable bombers worth billions of dollars. Trump said that he and Putin had "discussed the attack on Russia's docked airplanes, by Ukraine and also various other attacks that have been taking place by both sides." "It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace. President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields," Trump said in his post. Trump did not say whether he had warned Putin off any such retaliation against Ukraine, which Washington has supported to the tune of billions of dollars in its fight against Russia. The Kremlin described the call as "positive" and "productive". "At the end of the conversation, the two leaders described the exchange of views as positive and quite productive and confirmed their wish to stay in permanent contact," Putin's diplomatic adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters. "The subject of the strikes on the military airfields was also discussed. Donald Trump underlined that the American side had not been informed in advance," Ushakov added. 'Definitive answer' The Republican has repeatedly alarmed Kyiv and Western allies by appearing to side with Putin over the war, and had a blazing Oval Office row with visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. But Trump has also showed growing frustration with Putin as Russia has so far derailed the US president's efforts to honor a campaign pledge to end the war within 24 hours -- even if he never explained how this could be achieved. The call between Trump and Putin did however show that Washington and Moscow may be eying cooperation on another key global issue -- Iran. Trump said he believed they were both "in agreement" that Iran could not have a nuclear weapon, and that time was running out for Tehran to respond to US offers of a deal. "President Putin suggested that he will participate in the discussions with Iran and that he could, perhaps, be helpful in getting this brought to a rapid conclusion," Trump said. The US president added: "It is my opinion that Iran has been slowwalking their decision on this very important matter, and we will need a definitive answer in a very short period of time!" Putin told his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian that Moscow was ready to help advance talks on a nuclear deal, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. But Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said earlier Wednesday that Washington's proposal was against Tehran's national interest, amid sharp differences over whether Tehran can continue to enrich uranium.