Russia and Ukraine agree new prisoner exchange after talks – DW – 06/02/2025
Skip next section Zelenskyy says Ukraine, Russia preparing new POW exchange after Istanbul talks
06/02/2025
June 2, 2025 Zelenskyy says Ukraine, Russia preparing new POW exchange after Istanbul talks
The second round of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul ended after lasting just over an hour.
"It didn't end negatively," said Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Oncu Keseli.
Following the conclusion of talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine and Russia are working on a new prisoner exchange.
The delegations "exchanged documents through the Turkish side, and we are preparing a new release of prisoners of the war," Zelenskyy said while attending a meeting of Central and Northern European states in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Meanwhile, Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president's chief of staff, said that Ukrainian delegates at the Istanbul peace talks handed a list of children that Kyiv wants Moscow to return to Russian negotiators.
According to Ukrainian officials, hundreds of children were forcibly removed from Ukrainian territory by Russian forces, and Ukraine wants them returned as part of a peace deal. Moscow claims the children were relocated for their safety.
Expectations were low before the talks began, as both parties submitted written proposals laying out their demands, showing them far apart from any agreement on ending the war.
Ukraine, which has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion for more than three years, wants an internationally monitored 30-day ceasefire as a starting point for peace talks.
The solution is based on a US proposal.
Moscow, for its part, has set out preconditions that include halting mobilization and renouncing Western arms deliveries, aiming to stop Ukraine from using any ceasefire to regroup militarily.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Local Germany
3 hours ago
- Local Germany
German Chancellor Merz prepares for delicate talks with Trump
A month into his job, conservative Merz, 69, is a staunch transatlanticist at pains to maintain good ties with what he considers post-war Germany's "indispensable" ally, despite Trump's unyielding "America First" stance. Merz will hope his pledges to massively boost Germany's NATO defence spending will please Trump, and that he can find common ground on confronting Russia after the mercurial US president voiced growing frustration with President Vladimir Putin. On Trump's threat to hammer the European Union with sharply higher tariffs, Merz as leader of its biggest economy has argued that the 27-nation bloc must be self-confident in its negotiations with Washington, declaring that "we're not supplicants". Despite the dangers, his office has voiced confidence Merz will be spared the kind of public dressing down Trump delivered in the Oval Office to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa. Merz is looking ahead to his first in-person meeting with Trump "with great calmness and joy", his spokesman Stefan Kornelius said, pointing to their "very good relationship" so far. "Germany is the third largest economy in the world, and we have a lot to offer as an economic partner of the USA," Kornelius said. "At the same time, a very constructive and positive relationship with America is very important to us, for our own economy and for the security of Germany and Europe." The two leaders -- both with business backgrounds and keen golf players -- are on first-name terms after several phone calls, Kornelius said, and Merz now has Trump's cell phone number on speed dial. Defence and trade Merz has been given the honour of staying at Blair House, the presidential guest residence on Pennsylvania Avenue across from the White House. Merz has even felt comfortable enough to have a little fun at Trump's expense, recently telling a TV interviewer that his every second or third word was "great". Advertisement Whatever the personal chemistry, the policy issues are potentially explosive. Trump launched his roller-coaster series of trade policy shifts in April, with the threat of 50-percent US tariffs on European goods looming. Merz, who has sat on many corporate boards, is "very experienced in business, too -- the world from which Donald Trump comes," his chancellery chief of staff, Thorsten Frei, told the Funke media group. On the Ukraine war, where Germany strongly backs Kyiv, Merz will hope to convince Trump to heighten pressure on Putin through new sanctions to persuade him to agree to a ceasefire. Trump, 78, has recently expressed frustration with Putin, calling him "crazy", but without announcing concrete new measures. (COMBO) This combination of file photos created on June 3, 2025 shows Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz (L) and US President Donald Trump (R). (Photo by Ludovic MARIN and SAUL LOEB / various sources / AFP) Merz's visit comes ahead of a G7 summit in Canada on June 15th to 17th and a NATO meeting in The Hague at the end of the month. At that meeting Merz has said Germany is willing to follow a plan to raise defence spending to 3.5 percent of GDP over coming years, with another 1.5 percent dedicated to security-related infrastructure. 'Calm and reasonable' Another potential flashpoint issue looms -- the vocal support Team Trump has given to the far-right and anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which came second in February elections. US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and former Trump adviser Elon Musk have all weighed in in support of the AfD, which in Germany is shunned by all other political parties. When Germany's domestic intelligence service recently designated the AfD a "right-wing extremist" group, Rubio denounced the step as "tyranny in disguise". Advertisement Merz slammed what he labelled "absurd observations" from Washington and said he "would like to encourage the American government... to largely stay out of" German domestic politics. In recent days, Merz said he was relaxed about the upcoming Trump meeting, quipping that he won't need to take valerian, prescribed to treat nervous tension and anxiety. "I don't need valerian to stay calm and have a reasonable conversation with the American president," Merz told public broadcaster ZDF . "We will have to talk about common interests. There are differences, but there are also many similarities, and that's exactly what we'll talk about."
DW
3 hours ago
- DW
Germany updates: Israeli Foreign Minister Saar visits Berlin – DW – 06/05/2025
06/05/2025 June 5, 2025 German Foreign Minister Wadephul hosts Israeli counterpart, Gideon Saar Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar will meet with his German counterpart, Johann Wadephul, in Berlin on Thursday, a day after Wadephul promised that Germany would send more arms to Israel despite growing international calls for a weapons embargo. In the morning, the two top diplomats are scheduled to lay a wreath at Berlin's Holocaust Memorial, which commemorates the murder and persecution of Jews in Europe under Germany's Nazi regime from 1933 to 1945. Saar's official visit is to conclude with a joint press conference at the Foreign Ministry in the early afternoon. Several human rights groups and NGOs are planning a rally in front of the ministry in protest against Israel's war in the Gaza Strip, which has killed thens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave. Wadephul's promise of more arms deliveries to Israel on Wednesday came as an apparent reversal of comments made to the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung last week. There, he suggested that further arms shipments to Israel were dependent on a government review of whether Israeli actions in Gaza complied with international humanitarian law. Israel launched its offensive in the Gaza Strip in response to raids led by the Palestinian militant group Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and some 250 hostages were taken. The country is now coming under increasing international pressure to stop its military operation in view of the desolate humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory. The parliamentary session on Wednesday where Wadephul was questioned on Germany's Israel policy was disrupted when Left Party lawmaker Cansin Köktürk was ordered to leave the room because she was wearing a T-shirt with "Palestine" written on it. Bundestag President Julia Klöckner accused Köktürk of being in contravention of rules banning political slogans on clothing in parliament.
DW
11 hours ago
- DW
Egypt vows to protect historic monastery amid land dispute – DW – 06/05/2025
Egypt's foreign minister told Greece that Egypt will preserve the spiritual and religious value of the historic Saint Catherine's Monastery, which is part of the Greek Orthodox church. Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelaaty has told his Greek counterpart Giorgos Gerapetritis that the sovereignty of Saint Catherine's Monastery is assured. Gerapetritis travelled to Cairo on Wednesday to discuss Saint Catherine's after an Egyptian court ruling sparked alarm among Orthodox Christian leaders over the fate of the historic monastery. Greek Orthodox patriarchates in Jerusalem, Istanbul and Athens feared that the land the monastery sits on could be confiscated by the state after the court last week rejected the monastery's ownership claims to it. The court ruled that the monastery sits on public land but affirmed the monks' right to use the monastery and the religious sites in the area. "The ruling affirmed the continued permission for the monastery's monks to benefit from it and from the religious and archaeological areas in the region," the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Greece concerned over court ruling During Wednesday's meeting, Abdelatty told Gerapetritis the court ruling does not affect the site and that it "preserves the monastery's esteemed spiritual value and religious standing." That's according to a statement from Egypt's foreign ministry. Greece's Gerapetritis said he and Abdelatty had agreed to work "to protect the monastery's rights and legal status" going forward. Speaking in a televised address, he added that both Egypt and Greece wished "to move forward on the basis of the monastery's established traditions and enduring value as a place of Greek Orthodox worship." Why is Saint Catherine's Monastery so important? Established in the sixth century at the base of Mount Sinai, Saint Catherine's Monastery holds immense religious and historical significance. It is the world's oldest continually inhabited Christian monastery and holds an large and important collection of rare and ancient manuscripts. It is also said to house the biblical burning bush from which God first revealed himself to Moses. According to Egypt Independent , an English-language news site, the crisis concerning the monastery began months ago. It said rumors had been circulating on social media since last year that the regional South Sinai governate threatened to evacuate the monastery. Edited by: Zac Crellin
