Russia and Ukraine exchange more PoWs
Kiev/Moscow: Ukraine and Russia exchanged prisoners of war for the fifth time on Thursday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Telegram that the swap included members of the Ukrainian army, the national guard and border troops.
According to the staff responsible for prisoner of war affairs, severely injured and seriously ill soldiers have been exchanged. The majority of those released had reportedly been in captivity for more than three years.
The Russian Defence Ministry confirmed the exchange at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border. Neither side provided information on the number of soldiers who returned home in the exchange. Kiev and Moscow agreed during talks in Turkiye in early June to exchange soldiers under the age of 25, and those who are severely injured or ill, in several stages.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that some 900 prisoners have been exchanged so far. A third round of negotiations, set to start after June 22, will also address the continuation of the exchange of prisoners of war, alongside the fundamental question of ending the war, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. (DPA)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
10 minutes ago
- Al Jazeera
UN nuclear chief warns of disaster if Israel hits Iran's Bushehr plant
UN nuclear chief and Security Council members urge diplomatic solution as Israel strikes at heart of Iran's nuclear capability. Rafael Grossi, chief of the United Nations's atomic watchdog, has warned that an Israeli strike on Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant could trigger a regional catastrophe, as the two countries continue to trade attacks for the eighth straight day. The director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told the UN Security Council on Friday that a direct hit on Russian-built Bushehr, located on the the Gulf coast, could 'result in a very high release of radioactivity', with 'great consequences' beyond Iran's borders. 'I, therefore, again call for maximum restraint,' said Grossi, telling delegates at an emergency session on the Iran-Israel conflict that armed attacks on nuclear facilities should never take place. In a worst-case scenario, a strike on Bushehr, which contains 'thousands of kilogrammes of nuclear material', would require evacuation orders to be issued for areas within several hundred kilometres of the plant, including population centres in other Gulf countries, he said. Grossi said that a strike on the two lines that supply electricity to Bushehr could cause its reactor core to melt, with dire consequences. Authorities would have to take protective actions, administering iodine to populations and potentially restricting food supplies, with subsequent radiation monitoring covering distances of several hundred kilometres. Grossi appealed for a diplomatic solution and repeated his willingness to travel to negotiate a deal. 'The IAEA can guarantee through a watertight inspection system that nuclear weapons will not be developed in Iran,' he said. Advertisement Grossi made his comments as Iranian news portal rouydad24 reported that air defences in the city of Bushehr had been activated. No information about the target of the alleged Israeli attack was initially available. Sign up for Al Jazeera Breaking News Alert Get real-time breaking news alerts and stay up-to-date with the most important headlines from around the globe. Subscribe Your subscription failed. Please try again. Please check your email to confirm your subscription By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy protected by reCAPTCHA Israel raising 'spectre of fear' Israel began attacking Iran last Friday, claiming Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons, an accusation Iran has denied, saying its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes. Also speaking at the meeting, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the Iran-Israel conflict could ignite a fire that no one can control and called on all parties to 'give peace a chance'. Iran's UN ambassador Amir-Saeid Iravani stressed the civilian toll of Israel's attacks on the country, at one point holding up photos of Iranian children killed in the bombings. Iravani said Israel's attacks constituted 'gross violations of international law', urging the UN to take action, warning that if the non-proliferation regime were to collapse, the Security Council would 'share responsibility with the Israeli regime'. Israeli envoy Danny Danon then accused Iravani of 'playing victim'. 'We do not apologise for defending ourselves. We do not apologise for striking Iran's nuclear facilities. We do not apologise for neutralising the threat,' he said. Reporting from the UN headquarters in New York, Al Jazeera's Gabriel Elizondo said that Danon had been 'trying to raise the spectre of fear and trying to get more support from other nations for Israel's actions in Iran'. Danon, he said, had claimed that Iran had the ballistic missile capability to hit Western Europe and even the east coast of the United States. Russian UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said Israeli attacks on 'Iranian peaceful civilian nuclear facilities' were 'liable to plunge us into a hitherto unseen nuclear catastrophe'. 'Israel has disregarded the assessments of the specialist international agency, having … single-handedly, decided to carry out strikes against a sovereign country with no regard for the UN Charter,' he added. A senior Iranian official told the Reuters news agency that Iran was ready to discuss limitations on uranium enrichment but that any proposal for zero enrichment – not being able to enrich uranium at all – would be rejected, 'especially now under Israel's strikes'. Chernobyl-style nuclear disaster The IAEA's Grossi spoke a day after an Israeli military official walked back a military spokesperson's claim that Iran had struck Bushehr, saying the comment had been 'a mistake'. Advertisement Grossi said he could neither confirm nor deny that Bushehr, Iran's only operating nuclear power plant, had been hit. Russian nuclear energy chief Alexei Likhachev had earlier said that any attack on the plant, where hundreds of Russian specialists work, could cause a Chernobyl-style nuclear disaster. Speaking via videolink, Grossi said the IAEA was not aware of any damage at Iran's underground uranium enrichment facility at Fordow. He said there had been no nuclear fallout from attacks at the Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites and the Natanz enrichment site. Similarly, no radiological consequences were expected at the Khondab heavy water research reactor, under construction in Arak, which Israel also targeted.
Qatar Tribune
20 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
Iraqi pro-Iran leader threatens US with attacks
An Iraqi pro-Iranian leader on Thursday threatened the United States that its citizens and interests would be attacked if Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is targeted. 'If you touched a hair of the guardian of the nation, Imam Khamenei, you, your allies and filthy stooges would be the target of our hunt and fire across our Islamic region,' Akram al-Kaabi, the chief of Iraq's militant Harakat al-Nujaba (Movement of the Noble Ones) militia, said on the social media platform X. He vowed that neither the US military nor diplomats would be then safe. 'Actually, everyone holding your nationality in our region and all your direct and indirect interests would be legitimate targets for us,' al-Kabee added, addressing US President Donald Trump. In 2019, the US designated Harakat al-Nujaba and al-Kaabi as global terrorists. (DPA)
Qatar Tribune
20 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
Putin and Xi criticise Israel's attacks on Iran, urge de-escalation
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have called for de-escalation in the conflict between Israel and Iran, following a call between the leaders. The presidents showed a united front in their response to the escalating crisis on Thursday, after their shared geopolitical rival, the United States, indicated it had not ruled out joining Israel's strikes on Iran. During the call, Xi called for 'major powers' to help cool the conflict, in a thinly veiled reference to Washington. Russia, which has a strategic cooperation pact with Tehran, says it has been urging the US not to strike Iran, warning it would dramatically destabilise the region and risk a nuclear disaster. Following the call, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that Putin and Xi 'strongly condemn Israel's actions, which violate the UN Charter and other norms of international law', news agencies reported. Both leaders 'fundamentally believe that there is no military solution to the current situation and issues related to Iran's nuclear programme', he said, adding that a solution 'must be achieved exclusively through political and diplomatic means'. Putin has presented his country as a potential mediator in the conflict over Iran's nuclear programme, but so far he has not been taken up on his offer. Ushakov said that during the call, Putin reiterated his suggestion of mediating in the dispute, and Xi expressed his support, 'as he believes it could serve to de-escalate the current acute situation'. Chinese state media reported that, during the call, Xi had called for all parties, 'especially Israel', to 'cease hostilities as soon as possible to prevent a cyclical escalation and resolutely avoid the spillover of the war'. (DPA)
