Zelenskyy: Ukraine working to recover 1,000 POWs from Russia, lists in progress
Ukraine is working with Russia on a potential exchange
involving another 1,000 prisoners of war, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said
during a press briefing on Sept. 19, according to Interfax-Ukraine.
He said National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem
Umerov had spoken with Vladimir Medinsky, a top aide to Russian dictator
Vladimir Putin, about the next phase of prisoner exchanges.
“We want to bring back 1,000 people; the teams are working
on the lists,” Zelenskyy said.
Asked about possible future meetings at the delegation
level, he added that Ukraine would be willing to meet Russian representatives
“even tomorrow” — but warned that empty talks serving the aggressor’s interests
“do not bring peace any closer.”
“We’ve read all their memos. We know them well. And they’ve
read ours — they’ve studied them very carefully. They know what they want, and
we know what we want,” the president said.
Zelenskyy expressed hope that international pressure would
be strong enough to push for negotiations with Russia at the leaders’ level.
On Sept. 19, Umerov also said talks with Russia on
humanitarian issues were ongoing, including prisoner exchanges.
On Aug. 24, a swap brought home Ukrainian service members
from the Armed Forces, National Guard, and State Border Guard Service, as well
as civilians – among them former Kherson mayor Volodymyr Mykolayenko. A
previous exchange took place on Aug. 14.
Back on July 28, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had returned 5,857
people from Russian captivity since the start of the full-scale invasion, with
another 555 recovered outside formal exchanges. More than 1,000 soldiers were
returned under agreements reached in Istanbul.
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