Prisoner and body exchange with Russia expected next week, says Kyiv

A long-anticipated exchange of prisoners and the bodies of fallen soldiers between Ukraine and Russia is scheduled for next week, according to Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR).

The deal, reached during talks in Istanbul on 2 June, includes the repatriation of 6,000 bodies and the exchange of wounded troops and military personnel under the age of 25. Both sides have accused each other of stalling the process in recent days.

“Everything is going according to plan”, Budanov said on Sunday. He also accused Moscow of “dishonest information games”. Kyiv rejected Russian claims of Ukrainian delays, stating instead that Moscow had unilaterally set a date for the handover without mutual agreement.

Russia and Ukraine had previously conducted their largest prisoner swap in May, exchanging 1,000 captives each. Despite this, Ukraine continues to call for an “all-for-all” exchange formula, which Moscow has so far resisted.

^{A woman wears a flag with a portrait of her husband, a Ukrainian prisoner of war, during a rally calling to speed up the prisoner exchange © Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP}